Burns Suppers Worldwide
June 14, 2009 by The Laird
Filed under Robert Burns
Burns Suppers Worldwide
Burns Suppers commemorating the life and work of Scotland?s national poet grew from very small start but are now held worldwide. 
Contrary to common belief Robert Burns did not attend any of the Burns suppers held in his name.? In fact he had already been dead for some five years when a few close friends of his came together to supper and talk about their friend and then agreed to meet every year to celebrate the memory of Robert Burns.
Shortly after the first Burns Club supper another group decided to do the same thing locally each sharing poems and songs written by Robert Burns. The first groups to hold these meals were of course towns in Ayrshire and other parts of South West Scotland that had links to Burns including Irvine, Kilmarnock, Paisley and Dumfries.
These grew in numbers very slowly as Scots moved around the country and indeed the world. For example the first Burns Supper held outside of Scotland (as far as we can tell) was in 1806 when a group of Glasgow students were at Oxford university with London following in 1810.
Robert Burns around the world
India’s first Burns Supper was as early as 1812 held by a few Scots serving as army officers came together to remind themselves of home.
About the same time Scots working for the Hudson Bay Company were celebrating with haggis and whisky and reciting Burns Poetry and songs (and perhaps a few other Scots writers mixed in) while around the opposite side of the world Scots in Australia had their Burns Festivals from 1823 with a formal Burns supper emerging in 1844. Robert Burns own nephew not only helped to found the city of Dunedin (the capital of New Zealand and the original name for Edinburgh) but also the first Burns Supper in New Zealand.
This events were spreading slowly by organic growth as Scots who had been to Robert Burns Suppers at home left Scotland to help build their fortune. However they really grew in popularity when in 1815 Sir Walter Scott the author organised a large Burns Supper in Edinburgh inviting a huge number of other big name Scottish writers and publishers. Obviously the publicity from this event attended by all the big names in Scotland spread the idea.
Today Burns suppers are held all over the world including USA Incidentally the first supper there appears to have been in Philadelphia not North Carolina where the largest populations of Scots lived. I know they are also held in Russia and China. Russia even issued a postage stamp bearing a picture of Robert Burns in 1956 some fifty plus years before the UK followed suit.
If you want to see something really different try going to Vancouver in Canada and eating the modern invention of Gung Haggis Fat Choy a Chinese meal made with haggis. What type of Bagpipes do you suggest should accompany this meal?
I would not be surprised if some of these Burns festivals and suppers were not still being carried on today by some of our readers. If you attended a Robert Burns night whether in Scotland or overseas write and let us know about it. Photos would be good with a brief description and I will create separate pages for each dinner.
Homecoming 2009
This 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns has also been declared the Year of the Homecoming 2009 with several million ex-pats coming home to their ancestral home of Scotland.
Why not come and see your real home?
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