Presented by David Bruce McCowan
2-Hour Workshop (All)
This interactive session will show how Robert Burns became the worldwide hero of common folk and will help us appreciate that Canada’s heritage is the sum of the histories of its diverse native and immigrant peoples.
In spite of Burns’ humble beginnings, his work became almost legendary in his own time. The very down-to-earth Burns Club meetings held in Ayrshire 200 years ago spawned a movement that has spread Burns’ words around the world.
Each participant will play a role in re-living the first Burns Supper in Scarborough – held, for argument’s sake, in 1834. The characters in this re-enactment were all real people – recent Scottish immigrants.
The script is fictitious, but the general format of our gathering is reasonably accurate. The many toasts, other short speeches and the periodic songs and poems made up the typical Burns Supper agenda at that time.
Each participant will have a sheet with their character’s name and the short script that they will read, as well as the program so that they can tell exactly when it is their turn to speak.
The year 1834 would be an important turning point for the Scots in Scarborough. They would establish several new institutions as their community graduated from a state of self-sufficient isolation to bustling commerce and economic prosperity.
Just imagine. It is January 25, 1834, the 75th anniversary of Robert Burns’ birth. You’re taking an evening away from the spinning wheel and the barn to celebrate the legacy of Scotland’s National Poet…
