Celebrating Robert Burns Day with a Haggis Dinner at Better Living Community Centre, Toronto

Canada is a country made up of immigrants from around the world. We are fortunate to be living in Toronto, one of the most ethnic diverse metropolitan in the world. We have endless opportunities to take part in a huge number of different cultural activities across the city.


Robert Burns,  a famous Scottish  poet, whose literary work and poets are studied in high schools and universities in Canada. Many Canadians celebrated the Robert Burns' Day and held special events and dinners in various communities.

We attended a Robbie Burns Haggis Dinner at the Better Living Community Centre

Last Wednesday, we attended a Robert Burns' Day Dinner at the community center in our neighborhood. The dinner was from 5:00 - 7:00pm and it started right on time!

I attended a Robbie Burns' Lunch at school while I was teaching but never attended a more formal haggis dinner.

It was interesting to see the Haggis being piped in by a gentleman dressed in his formal Scottish attire.

The piper and the haggis carrier went around the room,

Haggis, the national dish of Scotland was served at a Robbie Burns Day Dinner

Therefore,  we could all had a good look at the Haggis - a Scottish national dish beautifully cooked ready to be devoured by the hungry diners.

The piper addressed the Haggis before dinner & reciting Burns' poems

Before dinner was served, Michael, the piper addressed the haggis, reading poems composed by Robbie Burns and explaining to us what they meant. This was followed by toasting to the haggis and we all domed a strong drink of whisky.

Dinner was delicious! Besides the Haggis, we were served a Scottish Pie, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. It was followed with rice pudding and hot beverages.

We were entertained by a group of young Highlands dancers

A groups of young dancers arrived after dinner and entertained us with some highland dancing.

 We learned that highland dancing is an excellent form of exercises with lots of jumping and steps.

It demonstrate the physical strength and athleticism of the dancers.

A young man performing the sword dance at the Robert Burns' Dinner

In fact, we learned that that was the way the Scottish recruited and train their soldiers in the good old days!

How interesting was that!

R.T.
Robbie Burns Dinner
Better Living Community Centre
Don Mills
Toronto, Ontario