"Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.
The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to men a mill
In time o' need,
While thro' your pores the dews distill
Like amber bead.
His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, reich!
Then horn for horn,
they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve,
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
"Bethankit!" 'hums.
Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi' perfect scanner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?
Poor devil! see him ower his trash,
As feckless as a withr'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His niece a nit;
Thro' bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!
But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whistle;
An' legs an' arms an' heads will send,
Like taps o' thrissle.
Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skunking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her grateful' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!"
Now imagine trying to figure out what that means when it's an older man with a thick Scottish accent reciting it. I still don't quite get what it means. After the Address to a Haggis, there was the traditional Toast to the Lassies. In a truly traditional Burns supper, the women have been in the kitchen cooking all night, and the men are the only ones that partake in the supper. The Toast to the Lassies is the mens' way of showing their appreciation for the women. The tradition is that the men can poke fun at the women but it must always end in a way that acknowledges what the women have done. After this, the lassies toast the lads in return. Here, the lassies are allowed to say pretty much whatever they want. The gentlemen that gave the toast did a very good job, I wish I remembered what they said. The toast from the ladies was also very nice, but again, I don't remember what was said.
Finally, it was time for haggis, turnips, and potatoes. I was a little skeptical about having haggis for the first time, so I only took a tiny spoonful, but it was actually surprisingly good. I don't know quite how to explain it, but I thought it tasted pretty good. One of my friends, who has never eaten meat before in her life, even tried some, and she even thought it was good. Last of all was the dessert, a delicious chocolate cake.
Then, it was time for the ceilidh. This was a bit intimidating for me because ceilidh=dancing, and anyone that knows me will tell you, I'm not a dancer in any sense of the word. One of the Scots who works at Firbush taught us all the steps to the dance, and then everyone would pair up and do the dance. I can't describe any of the dances. I could barely remember them long enough to finish each of the dances! I wasn't looking forward to dancing at first, but by the end of the night, even I was having a blast. There's a ceilidh for Arcadia students next week, so I think I'll be pretty prepared for that one. Towards the end of the ceilidh, one of my friends sang an older Scottish song while one of the Scots played guitar. It was beautiful. I love listening to people sing, and she has a great voice. Again, I wish I had a video to share. For some, the ceilidh continued into the night with an after party. I was dead tired, so I stayed up for a bit, but I went to bed before most.
The next day, there were several options for us to choose from. I decided to go kayaking. I can honestly say I've never been so ridiculously suited up to do anything. Ever. I had to pull on a wetsuit, which isn't necessarily the easiest thing to do. I borrowed shoes from the centre so that mine wouldn't get wet. The wetsuit went over my shirt, but then over that went a water-proof jacket. The wrists were tight to keep water out. Over that, went the life-jacket. To keep my hands warm, I was given pogies. They're gloves that are velcro-ed around the handle of the oar, and then you put your hands into the pogies to hold the oar. And last, but certainly not least, I had to put on the water-proof seal that fits tight around my waist and then gets sealed over the rim around the seat of the kayak so that as much water as possible stays out of the kayak. I don't think I've ever looked so ridiculous in my life. It was awesome.
Out on the water, two of the people in charge of the Firbush centre taught us how to control the boats. With so many of us in such a small space (we didn't go out onto the loch right away. Firbush has a mostly enclosed area to practice in before going onto the loch.), there was a lot of kayaks bumping into other kayaks. Finally we made it out to the loch. It's an awesome feeling, gliding across the water. At first, it felt effortless...until I had been kayaking for about an hour and my arms started to feel sore, and the oar started to feel quite heavy. We stayed close to the shore for a while, but then our group circled an island out in the middle of the loch before heading back to the Firbush centre. We had a small lunch, and then we were free to choose other activities to do. I was pretty tired from hiking, dancing and kayaking, and I had Catching Fire waiting for me in the room, so I decided to stay at Firbush and read until it was time for tea and scones.
Overall, it was a wonderful weekend. I got to explore some amazing scenery, eat some amazing food, and learn some pretty cool Scottish dances. And I even got to read a good book.
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