On the 25th of January, Burns’ Suppers are held all around the world to celebrate the birth of the great Scottish Poet, Robert Burns. Perhaps one of his most well-known poems’ is Tam o' Shanter. Is it possible that lines to this poem were inspired by his trip to Rosslyn Castle in 1787? A Trip [...]
The Scottish poet and lyrist, Robert Burns, was born on January 25th, 1759 in Alloway in Ayrshire. He is regarded as one of the greatest poets to come out of Scotland and to this day, the world over, Burns Suppers are held to celebrate his birth. Perhaps one of his most famous poems is [...]
In the Beginning… Halloween began as a Celtic harvest festival. The early Celts marked the end of summer with a festival they called Samhain (pronounced sow-in). As part of these celebrations they built fires and burnt animals as sacrifices. Samhain means "summer's end" in Gaelic, according to the Indo-European Etymological Dictionaries. However, because ancient records [...]
Mystery! Intrigue! It began when I was researching out some information about Tam O’ Shanter. What I discovered was something which could have come straight out of a Dan Brown novel. First there was a ‘lost’ Robert Burns painting, thought once to have belonged to Sir James Shaw, one-time Lord Mayor of London. Then mysterious [...]