Burns Night 2027 is on Monday

About Burns Night

Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759, in a cottage in Alloway, Ayrshire, and died in July 1796 at the age of 37. He wrote in Scots and English, and poems and songs such as Address to a Haggis, Tam o' Shanter, A Red, Red Rose and Auld Lang Syne made him the best-known poet Scotland has produced. Burns Night honors him with an evening of food, verse and music, held in homes, hotels, clubs and community halls in Scotland and among Scottish communities around the world.

The tradition started within a few years of his death. According to the National Records of Scotland, nine of his friends, led by the Reverend Hamilton Paul, met at the Alloway cottage on July 21, 1801, the fifth anniversary of his death. They ate haggis and sheep's head, recited his verse and toasted his memory. VisitScotland says the gathering went so well that the group met again the following year to mark his birthday instead, and January 25 became the date. Regular meetings of the group helped lead to one of Scotland's first Burns Clubs, and hundreds of such clubs now exist.

A formal Burns supper follows a familiar running order. The host welcomes the guests and says the Selkirk Grace, a short Scots blessing that predates Burns but is now tied to him. The haggis is carried in, often to bagpipes, and someone performs Address to a Haggis before it is cut. After the meal come readings and songs, the Immortal Memory speech in tribute to the poet, a Toast to the Lassies and a reply, and finally everyone links hands to sing Auld Lang Syne.

Burns Night is a cultural celebration, not a public holiday, so many suppers take place on the nearest weekend rather than on January 25 itself.

Sources: National Records of Scotland: The NRS guide to the perfect Burns Supper, VisitScotland: Burns Night in Scotland, National Trust for Scotland: The first Burns supper. How we check dates.

How to mark Burns Night

• Host a simple Burns supper at home with haggis, neeps and tatties, or a vegetarian haggis, and ask each guest to read one poem.
• Learn the Selkirk Grace or a verse of Address to a Haggis and perform it before the meal.
• Listen to recordings of Burns songs such as A Red, Red Rose and Ae Fond Kiss, then sing Auld Lang Syne together with all the verses.
• Read Tam o' Shanter aloud with a Scots glossary at hand and talk about the words that are new to you.
• If you raise a dram for the toasts, keep to the legal drinking age, never drink and drive, and have non-alcoholic options on the table.
• Plan a visit to Alloway's Robert Burns Birthplace Museum or Burns sites in Dumfries, or look for a Burns supper run by a local Scottish society.

Burns Night dates