Photo: Photo provided by Ted Gunn

Last year's Burns Night was held at the Garrison Club. Enjoying a "wee dram" before being piped into the dining room were Captain Alan Stairs, Volunteer Sergeant Pierre Drouin, Mme. Marie-Ève Plourde, Lt. Col. (H) Guy Morisset and Captain-Lieutenant Ted Gunn, President of the Mess Committee.

Aye, it's time to raise a glass in memory of "The Bard," Scotland's national poet, Robbie Burns. The 78th Fraser Highlanders, Fort St. Andrew Garrison, invite you to join them at the Burns Night to be held on Saturday, January 28, at the Morrin Centre. The evening will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a Social Hour. At 7:00 p.m. guests will be piped into College Hall where the Burns Supper will be served.

This is the tenth Burns Night which the Fraser Highlanders of Quebec City have organized since 2003.

A Scottish menu is planned starting with a soup, followed by Haggis (with a dram of whisky or Drambuie "sauce" available for anyone interested), "neeps and tatties" (mashed turnip and potato), Angus beef filet mignon with vegetables as the main course, and a Scottish style dessert, coffee or tea.

A typical Burns Night supper proceeds as follows: after a welcome by the Chairman and the reciting of "The Selkirk Grace" by the chaplain of the 78th Fraser Highlanders, the Haggis is piped into the dining room, carried aloft on a silver platter by the chef, and Burns' famous Address to a Haggis is recited dramatically, and the first of many toasts is drunk. The address begins with these lines, "Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the puddin'-race!" and is best recited by someone with an authentic Scots accent. During the recitation, the Haggis is stabbed and cut open with a sgian-dubh (knife).

What is "Haggis" you might well ask? Wikipedia describes it as, "a dish containing sheep's ‘pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial Haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach. As a kind of savoury pudding, the 2001 English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique puts it, "Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour."

(Photo of a Haggis from Wikipedia)

The meal will be catered by Vitalité Traiteur, but the Haggis is prepared by Muir's Bakery and Tea Room in Maxville, Ontario, which specializes in the preparation of Scottish foods.

Throughout the evening, more poetry is read, and more toasts are made. One of the gentlemen will give a Toast to the Ladies to which one of the Ladies will give a retort or Toast to the Laddies. This is usually a rather hilarious affair with the Ladies often giving as good as they get from the Laddies.

A Burns Night is always a very elegant affair. Ladies are requested to wear evening dress and gentlemen Scottish highland attire, tuxedo, military (mess Kit, miniature medals) or business suit. Of course, the more tartan, the better!

To reserve a place, RSVP before January 23rd to Ted Gunn at 418-842-6563 or gunn@upc.qc.ca .The cost for the evening is $85 per person which will include a glass of wine (for toasting) with the dinner. There will be a cash bar during the Social Hour. The Morrin Centre is located at 44 chaussée des Écossais in the Old City. Parking is available on surrounding streets or in the SPAQ parking garage on rue Pierre-Olivier-Chauveau (near City Hall) or at Place d'Youville.

The profits from the evening will go towards the 78th Fraser Highlander Foundation which was set up to benefit the activities of the Garrison youth, a squad of young Fraser Highlander soldiers. An ultimate goal is to be able to send some of these young people off to summer camps for advanced lessons in Highland dancing and bagpiping. A receipt for income tax purposes will be issued for a portion of the cost of the evening.

Pipe Major, Captain Alan Stairs informs us that at the moment there some 20 to 30 members in the Fort St. Andrew's Garrison including those who have paid for the privilege of being a Commissioned Officer. Major Eric Plourde is the current Commanding Officer and the Commander of the Tartan Guard.