UK Holidays - Robert Burns Birthday

January 25 is the birthday of the great Scottish poet Robert Burns This is a national holiday celebrated not only by the Scots and the British, but throughout the world Recently, Burns fans have been holding it in Russia Burns's night begins with a gala dinner, the menu of which is based on Burns' poems "A Toast" and "Ode to Pudding" True Scots take kilts and tartans with clan checks out of their chests, Burns's poems are read, funny jokes from the poet's biography are remembered, bagpipers play and Scotch whiskey flows like a river Smoked haddock stewed in milk with new potatoes, sweet corn and fresh peas is placed on the table But the main highlight of the table is considered to be the stuffed lamb stomach, praised by the poet "Ode to the Scotch Haggis Pudding" celebrates this simple and rough food of the poor as a gourmet dish The stomach is filled with finely chopped offal, vegetables, oatmeal and spices and cooked for about 35 hours The pudding is solemnly placed on the table and before eating, one of those present reads an ode to Haggis The traditional holiday meal ends with cranachan dessert This dish is made with ground oats and whipped cream with raspberries, honey and a splash of Scotch whisky All three dishes are very tasty and satisfying; rarely do foreigners make it to Kranachan Of course, a holiday would not be complete without the good Scottish ale so revered by Robert Burns, and it was not for nothing that he wrote one of his most famous works, “John Barleycorn” Brief biography of “The Bard of Calendon” Robert Burns was born into a farmer's family in 1759 in Western Scotland It was here that his father, a former gardener, William Bernes, rented a small piece of land from a local landowner, built a house and got married Robert was the first-born in a large large family, and it was on his shoulders that the chores fell on his shoulders; he worked like his father in the field, caring for sheep and horses Recalling these years, Burns said that he had rarely seen anyone have such a difficult childhood as he himself experienced The only outlet in hard everyday work was studying and reading books Local farmers pooled their money to hire a teacher for their children, and this marked the beginning of the poet’s development The beginning of poetry is associated with Robert's first love One of the poet's most famous and first poems is dedicated to the miller's daughter Nellie Kilpatrick Moving to a new rented farm allowed Robert to find friends who shared his views, he even became the founder of the Bachelors Club His name becomes famous after the publication of the poems “The Prayer of Saint Willie” and “Two Shepherds” But real fame came to him in 1785 after the appearance of poems in the popular Scottish dialect Early works include such famous poems as "John Barleycorn", "The Merry Beggars" and "Holy Fair" Moving to Edinburgh in 1787 marked the next milestone in the poet's life; he became famous and popular in high circles, which, however, did not make him richer Robert Burns and his brother invest money for publishing poems in a farm, but the enterprise quickly goes bankrupt In the same year, he finally unites his life with his long-beloved Jean Armor; after many years of waiting, the father agrees to his daughter’s marriage to the poor poet From this marriage Robert had five children, the last one born on the day of the poet’s funeral In addition, Burns is credited with many novels and six illegitimate children In order to feed his family, the poet had to enter the government service as a tax collector Burns’s poverty at that moment can be evidenced by the fact that he had to sew uniforms for his service on credit The career of an excise official did not allow the poet to fully devote himself to creativity However, it was precisely because of his success in his career that in 1890 he was transferred to the city of Dumfries In fits and starts, between services, Burns would write Tam O Shanner and Honest Poverty In 1793, a two-volume volume of his poems was published in Edinburgh However, despite his popularity and fame, his official salary remained the main means of subsistence for his entire family Robert Burns died on July 21, 1796 at the age of 37 A severe cold, complicated by rheumatic heart disease, and the threat of debtor's prison brought him to his grave within six months He died in the arms of his faithful Jean Armor, worrying only about leaving his wife and children without a livelihood After the poet's untimely death, his friends organized fundraisers throughout Scotland and Britain, and so much money was collected that Burns' family could live comfortably Many years later, when the poems of the great Burns spread among the courtiers of Britain, the king decided to grant his widow a lifelong pension, but the proud Jean refused it Robert Burns is a national hero of Scotland In all the cities and villages where the poet set foot, monuments and memorial plaques were erected to him The Scots did not forget the characters in Burns's poems The monument to the field mouse from “Ode on the Field Mouse” is located near the house where the poet was born Burns wrote this ode in difficult moments after the death of his younger brother In the town of Alluey, where the poet spent his childhood, a memorial complex was built Inside the peasant's hut, typical of farmers of that time, are wax figures of members of Burns's family and himself Nearby is a museum with Robert's personal belongings and manuscripts Nearby are the ruins of a church in which the unlucky hero of the poem “Tam O Shenner” saw a witches’ coven and a small bridge, by crossing which the hero got rid of persecution, because everyone knows that evil spirits are afraid of flowing water By the way, Robert Burns loved to wander alone near “running water,” as he called it A volume of Burns lay on Pushkin’s table; some literary scholars claim that Alexander Sergeevich used the form of Burns’ verse Lermontov translated one of the poet’s quatrains in his youth At one time, Nekrasov asked Turgenev to translate Burns’s works for him in order to put them into poetic form In our country, Burns becomes best known in the translations of Mikhailov ML But real popularity for Robert Burns came with the talented translations of Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak There is no person in our country who has never encountered the work of Robert Burns, for example, songs from films For example, the romance “My soul has no peace, all day I'm waiting for someone” from the film “The Irony of Fate” belongs to the pen of Robert Burns, a Scottish poet who lived in the 18th century Freedom-loving, frantic and unusually talented Robert Burns is very similar to our Sergei Yesenin Vivid short biographies, love for life in all its manifestations and the extraordinary folk melodiousness of the poems of these poets, who came from a peasant environment, make their works close and understandable to our souls