Friday, January 26, 2007

Help! I'm Holding a Haggis!

If you are the master of ceremonies/host of a Burns dinner about to carry in the haggis and then you realize you need to find the man with the scotch, what do you do? You can't just sit it down next to the coats! You spot a boy and hand it to him - "Take care of this til I get back!" Julius was pretty pleased to have the honor of holding the haggis. It was heavy, but he wasn't giving it up.

Tonight we experienced another rite of passage in the Scottish community. We got to attend a Burns dinner, well, the parents got to spend time behind the scenes and the kids danced on stage. Held near the birthday of the poet Robert Burns this dinner honors the poet and all things Scottish. One of the hallmarks of the night is the piping in of the haggis. There is a certain way to go about this ritual and the reading of Burns' poem "Address to a Haggis". Then there's dancing and music. The Reid School of Highland Dance was part of the evening's entertainment as well as Charlie Zahm.

While the girls were getting changed in the dressing area, Julius spent some quality time with one of the fathers outside in the hall. They were reading from a display case about the history of different American Flags. I knew the "Don't Tread On Me" flag really impressed Julius as later on he treated me and another mom to an informative talk about its meaning. (Yet another example of how they are learning all the time.) After the dancing was through most of the dancers and parents had a social time at the diner across the street. This group is a great bunch of people, there is only one thing that could have made it better, really brought our family's two cultural interests together. Come on, click it! You won't believe Gung Haggis Fat Choy!

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1 Comments:

  • At 8:32 PM, Blogger Lydia Netzer said…

    Brilliant picture! I'm not sure I've ever seen haggis inspire such delight. ;D Thanks for your comments on the opera -- I appreciate the advice and link. I really like your Field Learning site -- will bookmark and come back to explore. I wholeheartedly applaud this philosophy! :D

     

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