S6 E2: Celebrating Robert Burns
Every January 25, Burns suppers are held all over the world—around kitchen tables, in community halls, and wherever people gather to honour words that have endured.
Today, we’re celebrating Robert Burns, affectionately known as Rabbie Burns—the great Scottish poet and lyricist. Burns has been given many honourary titles over the years: the Bard of Scotland, the Ploughman Poet, a voice of the people. He wrote in the language he lived in—sometimes Scots, sometimes English—always with heart, wit, and deep humanity.
Burns suppers have long been a tradition in Scotland and far beyond its borders. And no Burns supper is ever complete without hearing the traditional “Address to a Haggis.”
A few years ago, I created a podcast to honour this tradition, and it has become something I return to each year—because some words deserve to be spoken aloud, again and again.
I’ve asked my son, Thomas, to recite those famous words for us—spoken with affection, respect, and a sense of continuity. This is not just a performance, but a passing on of tradition: from voice to voice, from one generation to the next.
So wherever you are listening from, I invite you to pause, lean in, and join us in this small act of remembrance and celebration.
Rebecca
Photography Rebecca Budd
Poetry Recitation by Thomas Budd
Music by Epidemic Sound
Megan Wolford “Auld Lang Syne” (Piano Version)
https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/tracks/a84e66ca-bf57-40e9-91fe-c8ab3d7ca608/
Location: Burns Cottage and Burns Monument and Memorial Gardens, Ayrshire, Scotland
