Address to a Haggis - by Robert Burns

 

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect scunner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis

All Clans Fall Banquet - Photos by Bob Boudreau

A view of the Silent Auction tables

Blue Cloud Celtic - Awesome band!

Armadale Cake

The singing of the Anthems and Toasts

Bonny Knee Judges

C Fred MacDonald having his knees judged

The lovely table set up

All Clans Fall Banquet - Blurb

I just uploaded photos from this year's All Clans Fall Banquet, hope you enjoy them! I will be posting some photos that were sent to me by Bob Bourdeau, the Regional Membership Chair...I heard that he even got video of Larry Hollums doing Robert Burn's Address to the Haggis. Maybe I can cage a copy for posting here...Larry does an awesome job! I did get one rather dark photo of him during the address, I will post it along with the poem in a day or so.

Kate

All Clans Fall Banquet

Mary MacDonald, NPR Regional Commissioner

Den Jenkins & Erik Martin manning the sign in table

Christmas table with ornaments for sale

The silent auction tables

Beautiful table settings

Such a grand hall

June Thompson, C. Fred MacDonald & Mary MacDonald

La Grande more pics

Celtic Festival and Clan Gathering - La Grande, OR - pics

New State Chaplain

Meet our new State Chaplain, Ivan MacKillip. Ivan has been a Eugene Convener for us for several years and a member on Clan Donald for even longer. We are quite pleased that he has accepted this new role with the clan. Look for an occasional post from him here on the blog...he has a lot of clan knowledge and is an all around great guy. If you would like to contact him, you can find his contact information on the Officers page here on the blog and in the 'Signal'.

Busy, Busy...

Hello again, things are hopping around here. We just got back from the All Clans Banquet this last week end, I will have a post with pictures soon. We went up early and helped with last minute prep and of course, set up. We had a good turn out for the event. If you haven't been...join us next year...we have lot's of fun!

Ivan MacKillip, who has been a Eugene convener, has accepted the post of State Chaplain. Watch for a post soon on that also.

Sharon Goff, the Idaho State Commissioner, did the Celtic Festival and Clan Gathering in La Grande, OR this year. I do have pictures to post for that event. She had so much fun that she has agreed to do it again next year! Along with the Athena Caledonian Games. This is a real help for us, as we have trouble making each event in the State...we can get spread a little thin sometimes.

And we as a Region, made every event in the Region this year! Go us!

We also have big news about the PNW Region...I will be posting on that also.

I am busy getting the Signal ready to go out...we have held it back because of the big news mentioned above.

I am also trying to get some artwork done for setting up our own Café Press store...this will not hold the Regional & National items that we sell at the Clan Tents. We are working on getting an online presence for those items, but the National folk move slowly. We will have new items in our store...geared for our Region. I will post when I have got it up and running and will add a link to it for ease of use.

And now back to work I go...

Kate