Jan. 25 is Robert BurnsB次元官网网址� 260th birthday.

As usual, there will be festivities, bagpipes and Haggis to be had throughout Victoria. But what makes BurnsB次元官网网址� legacy B次元官网网址� who only lived 37 years B次元官网网址� travel 6,100 km from his birthplace of Alloway to Victoria?

B次元官网网址淗e is the national poet of Scotland,B次元官网网址� said Irwin Henderson, past Provost of the Victoria Saltire Society. B次元官网网址淗e was voted in Scotland, within the last ten years, to be their most important person. Ahead of their Scottish engineers and philosophers and so on. I think this is because of his poems, and he wrote over 200 of them, were in the Scottish dialect when everybody else was doing elevated English.B次元官网网址�

The Saltire Society hosts an annual wreath laying at the Robert Burns statue in Beacon Hill Park. Henderson explained that the statue was built in 1900 after a group of Scottish ex-pats managed to raise $2,000. The base of the statue used to be a working fountain, until the plumbing gave out sometime in the 1950s, Henderson said.

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Although not on Robbie Burns Day proper, this yearsB次元官网网址� wreath ceremony begins at the statue at 1:45 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24. Henderson said the ceremony will last about 15 minutes, and will include a piper, some poetry, and little sprigs of heather handed out to the crowd. Although not entirely sure, he felt this yearB次元官网网址檚 poem would be A ManB次元官网网址檚 A Man For AB次元官网网址� That.

B次元官网网址淗e celebrated the common man and woman in his poems, he dealt with ordinary things: love, nature, he wrote a poem to a mouse, he took highland ballads and turned them into poetry. So it was very much the common touch. HeB次元官网网址檚 been called the plowmanB次元官网网址檚 poet, the peopleB次元官网网址檚 poet,B次元官网网址� Henderson said.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 that egalitarian plus Scottish Nationalism, plus there are many telling phrases in his poetry that have survived in common English. My love is like a red, red rose; A manB次元官网网址檚 a man for all that; and so on.B次元官网网址�

After the ceremony is completed, participants traditionally head to St. AndrewB次元官网网址檚 Presbyterian Kirk Hall on Courtney St. for tea, snacks, and Scottish entertainment. Those events begins at 2:30 p.m., and are by donation.

jesse.laufer@oakbaynews.com
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jesse.laufer@oakbaynews.com