Robert Burns Night

The Maine Celtic Celebration Hosts 
Robert Burns Night!

Celebrate the 264th birthday of Scotland’s most beloved storyteller, poet and lyricist, Robert Burns. The annual Burns Night is set for Jan 28, 2023, at the Waldo County Shriners Club at 20 Northport Avenue in  Belfast. The event starts at 5 pm. Enjoy a scotch tasting followed by appetizers and an evening of poetry, panegyric, and performance.

Burns Nights are held across the globe to celebrate the contributions of Burns’ work to preserving Scottish culture and heritage both in Scotland and abroad. These events range from stately, ostentatious gatherings of esteemed scholars and nobles to rowdy, raucous shindigs at local pubs. Ours will fall somewhere in between.  

Tickets for the event are available for purchase in advance or at the door. For $50 you can take part in the scotch tasting, with appetizers included afterward. Advance tickets can be purchased online here, or locally at Left Bank Books on Church St. in Belfast. Proceeds benefit the Maine Celtic Celebration, and help us plan and grow our annual summer festival on the Belfast waterfront.

Scotch tasters will tour through a range of whiskies from different regions of Scotland. The evening program will feature traditional Highland piping, tunes and songs from Celtic lands, presentation of the haggis, toasts to the laddies and lassies, and more. Attendees are encouraged to put their Celtic pride on display. Don your kilts, display your clan tartan proudly, or polish up your speaking skills. Prizes will be awarded for best traditional dress and recitations of Burns’ poetry. Burns’ work can be found at www.robertburns.org/works if you need inspiration. 

“In proving foresight may be vain:

The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men

Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

For promis’d joy!” — Robert Burns