The Burns Night Dinner again celebrated the birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns on Saturday night at the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, but the event brought double the delight because it also marked the 50th anniversary of Dunedin and Edinburgh’s sister city relationship.
Dunedin Burns Club and Otago Scottish Heritage Council president Royden Somerville said the Scottish community pulled out all the stops to make the annual event even more special this year.
There was a 20kg haggis, drams of Scotch, Highland dancing, bagpipes, singing, poetry reading and plenty of blether and malarkey (chat and nonsense).
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich spoke during the formal part of the evening about the enduring ties with Edinburgh, and University of Otago Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies Professor Liam McIlvanney spoke about Burns' involvement with Edinburgh during his life and the significance of his poetry legacy worldwide.
During the event, the Otago Scottish Heritage Council presented the annual Edinburgh Perpetual Challenge Trophy to the Dunedin Edinburgh Sister City Society chairwoman Sarah Davis for the society’s service to Scottish heritage and culture.
Dr Somerville said about 100 people attended and it was a wonderful evening.
He believed the poetry of Burns was just as relevant today as it was in the late 1700s.
"Apart from the fact that Burns and his poetry is still celebrated worldwide, the significance of his poetry still speaks to the interests of equality and fairness, and very much to the importance of our relationships and nature.
"And, of course, he had absolutely haunting and wonderful love poetry. It was exported through the diaspora, wherever the Scots went.
"And with poems like Auld Lang Syne and so forth, he's just so highly regarded in not only literary circles, but in communities throughout the world.
"For instance, he was lionised by Japan, Russia, all through Europe, America, and there are still Burns Clubs around the world — and the Dunedin Burns Club, which initially started in 1861, is one of the oldest Burns Clubs on the Kilmarnock Register.
"He’s still just as relevant today."
