About Burns Night
Burns Night commemorates the birth on 25 January 1759 of Robert Burns — the ploughman-poet who became Scotland's national bard. The first Burns supper was held by his friends in Alloway in 1801, five years after his death, and the structure they laid down has remained almost unchanged: a pipe-in of the haggis, the recitation of his Address to a Haggis (with the haggis dramatically slashed at the line 'cut you up wi' ready slight'), the Selkirk Grace, the meal itself (haggis, neeps and tatties), the Immortal Memory speech in the bard's honour, the Toast to the Lassies and the Reply, and Auld Lang Syne to close.
For a deeper historical treatment, see Burns Night — Wikipedia.
The supper has spread far beyond Scotland — it is observed wherever the Scottish diaspora has settled, from Cape Breton to Dunedin to Buenos Aires. Cards sent for the night are frequently quotations from Burns himself rather than fresh writing, and the recipient is often expected to know which poem the line is lifted from.
Traditional greetings
The phrases below are the ones most often used to mark Burns Night in person, by phone, and on cards. The native-script column shows the greeting as a recipient would read it; the transliteration is for those who would like to say it aloud; the English column is a literal rather than a poetic translation.
| Language | Greeting | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scots | Sláinte mhath | Good health (the toast) | |
| English | A guid Burns Nicht tae ye | A good Burns Night to you |
Design tips for printable Burns Night cards
Hand-printed cards for Burns Night reward restraint and specific reference. The notes below distil what the most thoughtful cards in the tradition tend to do — and what the most commercial ones tend to get wrong.
- Tartan as a folded inner panel rather than the cover — too much tartan reads as souvenir.
- A single thistle illustrated in silver foil against a deep heather purple is the festival in one elegant image.
- A line of Burns' verse hand-set in a serif (Caslon, Garamond) makes a beautiful cover instead of a literal portrait.
- Use deep heather, peat brown, and warm whisky-amber.
- Inside, leave room for the recipient to read aloud — Burns Night cards are read out at table.
A starting palette:
Five verses for Burns Night cards
Each verse below is short enough to copy onto a folded card by hand. They progress from formal to intimate; pick the one that best fits the relationship and the year you are writing into.
- On the night the haggis is piped in, the poet of the people is given his own table. A guid Burns Nicht tae ye.
- Sláinte mhath — to friends old and new, to auld lang syne, and to the bard who still does our talking for us.
- May the haggis be hot, the whisky be peaty, the Address be word-perfect, and the Toast to the Lassies be witty.
- From the cold north to wherever the diaspora has settled, the same supper, the same songs, the same warm laugh — happy Burns Night.
- 'And there's a hand, my trusty fiere, and gie's a hand o' thine' — from one Burns supper to another, sláinte.
Related cultural holidays
Other holidays observed in the Europe family of traditions: