by H. B. Auld, Jr.and The History Channel

Today is the birthday of Robert Burns, one of the most popular and important days on the Scottish calendar. “Rabbie” was born January 25, 1759, (265 years ago today).

Today’s birthday brings with it the “Burns Night” or Nicht celebrations with much feasting on haggis and other Scottish delicacies, as well as drinking, toasting, and speechmaking.

“Burns, the son of a poor farmer, received little formal schooling but read extensively. A restless, dissatisfied spirit, he fell in love with a young woman named Jean Armour in the mid-1780s but refused to marry her when she became pregnant. The pair endured a legal struggle, at the end of which the courts declared Burns legally single-but he later married Armour anyway. Eventually, the couple had nine children, the last one born on the day of Burns’ funeral.

Burns published his first poetry collection, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, in 1786, and he quickly became the darling of elite Edinburgh intellectuals.

Perhaps more famous for his lively lyrics in the Scottish dialect than for his longer, more literary poems, Burns is still beloved and celebrated today as the author of the New Year’s anthem, “For Auld Lang Syne.” (from The History Channel)

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