Here in Scotland we always celebrate the national bard's birthday, annually on the 25th of January. You might be thinking who is the bard? It's Robert Burns of course. Known for his poems such as To a Mouse and you will have heard of Auld Lang Syne (the traditional song sung on New Year's Eve). This year something special is taking place, aye, an online shindig (a large lively party)! Bigger and better than 2021 and to be hosted live from Burns Cottage. The conservation charity’s online celebration of the Bard, his life, and his works take place on Saturday 22 January 2022.
Burns Big Night In 2022
Burns Cottage is part of the National Trust for Scotland. Traditionally, the site which includes the humble cottage where Burns was born on 25 January 1759, the Brig o’Doon and Auld Kirk, as well as 5000 Burns’ artefacts, is a place of music, poetry, food, and partying in January.
Edith hosted the inaugural online Burns Big Night In on Saturday 23 January 2021 after the global pandemic meant the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway was unable to hold its usual programme of birthday celebrations for Scotland’s national Bard.
DJ and presenter Edith Bowman has launched the National Trust for Scotland’s Burns Big Night In 2022 by inviting the public to record themselves reciting To A Mouse, one of Robert Burns’s most popular poems.
The public are being urged to take part in a performance for the event by submitting videos of themselves reciting To A Mouse. A selection of recordings will be edited together into a video to be shown on the night to an audience of Burns fans from around the world.
Edith Bowman has started the ball rolling, recording the opening lines:
“Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,
“O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!”
To A Mouse videos should be submitted as landscape MP4s to bbni@luxevents.co.uk by Wednesday 12 January. The full text of the poem is available to download at https://burnsbignightin.org/.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased via https://burnsbignightin.org/
Don't hang around, more than 2600 viewers from around the globe tuned in for the first-ever Burns Big Night In on 23 January 2021. Broadcast live from Burns Cottage, the event featured a mix of music, song, and poetry, as well as conversation about Robert Burns’s life, work, and legacy. Performers included Kevin Williamson, Talisk, Iona Lee and Jenn Butterworth & Ross Ainslie.
About the National Trust for Scotland
The National Trust for Scotland is the conservation charity that over 90 years has saved, maintained, and shared many of the country’s most loved places, rich with history, heritage, nature, and culture. The charity celebrates Scotland’s heritage and with more than 100 places in its care, there’s a place for everyone to love.
The National Trust for Scotland relies on the support of its members and donors to carry out its important work of caring for the natural and built heritage that people from Scotland and across the world all love, ensuring its future for everyone to enjoy.
Support the National Trust for Scotland and help them protect the places we all love. Become a member at www.nts.org.uk.
Discover more about what to see and do in Alloway, the birthplace of Robert Burns.
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