A capacity crowd enjoyed a Robbie Burns Scottish celebration at the Legion on Saturday, with highlights that included bashed neeps, charging glasses, tipsy laird shortbread, bagpipes and spirited highland dancing.
For first-time Robbie Burns celebration Master of Ceremonies Eric Sannes, donning his kilt and taking part in a birthday bash for Scotland’s beloved poet was a delight and an honour.
“My family is Scottish and I’m married to a Scottish woman; I’m a member of the Cameron clan, the 7th cousin of Alexander Graham Bell and also related to Rob Roy, so we have a long Scottish history,” he said.
In his opening remarks, he explained that he visited Scotland for the first time last year. He shared a humorous poem about the English, the Scottish and a historical haggis tug-of-war. He talked tongue-in-cheek about the global impact of Robbie Burns, describing a hybrid event called Gung Haggis Fat Choy, combining Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Day. “Although haggis is a celebratory dish, I did notice last year when I was in Scotland that haggis is widely consumed. You can buy haggis-flavoured chips, haggis cologne and haggis-scented tissue paper,” he joked.
The ceremonies included live music by the Williams Lake Pipe Band, Celtic Connection, Doug White, Perfect Match, and featured Highland dancer Kirsten Lees.
Barry Sales presented the ‘Immortal Robbie Burns’, explaining that the poet’s work has been translated into more language around the world than either the Bible or Shakespeare. “A man of the people, he wrote 559 ballads and poems with a barbed wit and pointed pen. He speaks to us all where it hits the hardest – right in the heart.
“He wrote about the history and traditions of Scotland, and was very popular with the common people. It was a time when 95 per cent of the population lived in downtrodden poverty and were controlled by the other 5 per cent. He hated that; he also hated pretension and hypocrisy,” Sales continued.
He ended by asking the crowd to “charge their glasses and be upstanding” in a toast to Robbie Burns.
“I hope people were able to travel somewhere else when they heard the music tonight. I’ve always believed that bagpipe music disperses evil spirits; as soon as the pipes start to play something good settles over people,” Sannes explained.
“People came tonight because this has something that draws on everybody’s experiences; I bet if you went around the table you’d find that there are Scottish people in everybody’s family,” he said. “Everybody wants to have a little piece of that.”