Burns Night: An Air that Kills by Christine Poulson


published 2019

[Book excerpt]










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 worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm
.

Tarquin was giving the recitation everything he’d got. Katie saw from the programme that the “Address to a Haggis” continued for another six verses. She settled back in her seat….

The dinner was a bigger affair than she had imagined, with outside caterers and a greater degree of formality than she was expecting, even a printed menu and souvenir programme. She was impressed by the extent of the organization that had gone into this.

The event took place in the main hall of the house. The long mahogany table gleamed in the light of candles set in a silver candelabra. The stained-glass panels glowed, the candlelight picking out rich tints of ruby, emerald and sapphire.

They had had drinks in an ante-room and she had allowed herself a whisky. Then the guests had processed into the dining room accompanied by live music played on the bagpipes.

The first course had been cullen skink, a soup of smoked haddock and potatoes, and then they all stood while the haggis, the centrepiece of the supper, was paraded around the hall, followed by the bagpiper.

comments:  Burns night - held on or near the poet Robert Burns’ birthday, 25th January. There is a long tradition of the Burns night supper, and the details can be found in this Wikipedia entry.

I wrote about Christine Poulson’s marvellous thriller at the end of last year – and in the entry, here, you can find out what heroine Katie/Caitlin wore for the event. The supper is a great colourful event in the book, as everyone gets drunk and the conversation may become indiscreet – the evening ends with a dramatic announcement.

I highly recommend An Air That Kills, and hope you are enjoying Burns night. Haggis is surprisingly delicious, bagpipe music can be good, and poetry is always a pleasure.

For a previous Burns Day I read and loved Robert Louis Stevenson's marvellous Kidnapped:  the post contains links to other Scots-themed entries.  

The picture is from the Galt Museum archive (in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) and shows a Burns Night celebration in 1958.













Comments

  1. Happy Burns Night, Moira! And thanks for this description. Christine Poulson is such a talented author, and it's lovely to be reminded of how good her work is. I'm excited to see where she takes her stories next.

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    1. Me too Margot! And Happy Burns Night to you. We all need reasons to celebrate and have a good time in this day and age...

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  2. I have only had haggis once, but found it, as you say, surpisingly tasty: hot, rich and spicy. And very filling. I can well imagine that a poor smallholder who has been working outside all day in biting winter weather would be deeply grateful to the wife who gives him haggis for his evening meal.

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    1. I know! I was nervous of it for a long time, but it is delicious and as you say, perfect comfort food.

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  3. Quoting Housman as the title of a book set on Burns Night shows a certain inappropriateness. Very little in common except being male poets.

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    1. I chose this scene to illustrate because of the date - although important to the book, it is just one of many scenes and events! The title is appropriate, I promise. And I like as many and varied literary references as possible in a book - it makes me feel clever!

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  4. Happy Burns Night to you, too, Moira! Alas, in this part of the world haggis is illegal. Completely crazy. We've tried a couple of canned approximations of which one, a vegetarian version, was quite good, but neither were really all that much like the real thing.

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    1. Canned haggis does not sound good! But I shouldn't judge. I have seen mention of haggis-flavoured crisps here, but haven't managed to taste them yet...

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  5. I am only vaguely aware of Burns night but it all sounds interesting. I have recently received my copy of An Air That Kills that I pre-ordered and I will be reading it soon.

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    1. I have been to a few Burns Night events in my day, even though I have no Scottish connections. it is good fun. And I'm sure you will enjoy this book Tracy.

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  6. I wish Melfort had a Burns Night. Our community was named after a village in Scotland where our first settler's wife had family ancestry. I am sure it was a tradition in our history but no longer.

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    1. You seem to have a way with great social events Bill - you should organize one!

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