Too Close to Call: Great Scots it’s Burns Day this week!

On Jan. 25, Scots around the world celebrate the birthday of Robbie Burns, Scotland’s favourite son. In T.O., a St. Andrew’s Society piper and a Simply Highland dancer fête the Ploughman Poet. 

Any of the many Burns celebrations – the St. Andrew’s Society does a celebration at the Statue of Burns in Allan Gardens. Or a Scottish restaurant, like the Caledonian.

Where can non-Scots go to feel like Scots on Burns Day? 

Any pub, such as the Loaded Dog, where we danced last year.  

Baird’s Scottish Bakery, Allen’s Scottish Butchers, But “N” Ben Butchers and Meat on the Beach. There are probably more.  Where do you even find haggis in Toronto? Allen’s Scottish Butchers on Weston Road or any fish and chips shop.
The trick here is that the lower legs are protected by thick woolen hose, and the kilt is also made of thick wool and keeps you warm surprisingly well. How does a brave lad or lass pull off a kilt in the dead of winter?     By wearing thick wool socks.
The parade of the haggis followed by Burns’s “Address to a Haggis” and the serving of this fine dish accompanied by neeps and tatties [turnips and potatoes].    Most essential Burns Night tradition?  Piping in the haggis and cutting it open after the Robbie Burns poem is said.  
“O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us  
To see oursels as others see us!
Favourite line by 
Robbie Burns?
“O my Luve’s like a red, red rose 
That’s newly sprung in June.”  
Burns Statue Event, Allan Gardens, 
11:30 a.m., Jan. 25
www.standrews-society.ca  
  Delmanor Wynford, 2:30 p.m., Jan. 25
Belmont House, 7 p.m., Jan. 25
www.simplyhighland.ca  

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