This month I seem fated to write about the Scottish bard, Robert Burns. For those unfamiliar with this esteemed poet and lyricist, take note that January 25th is Robbie Burns Day, the anniversary of his birth in 1759. All the topics I had considered for this month\u2019s article, though they appear disparate (cookbooks, New Year\u2019s Day, and stonecutters) instead have converged upon Burns.<\/p>\n
First, I contemplated the importance of cookbooks to the family historian, having recently attended a lecture on this subject. Inspired, I interviewed my relatives about foods they recalled from childhood. This led to a discussion of traditional holiday foods and before I knew it, consumption of treats ensued and I became a stuffed, rounded blob, too full to even think about writing.<\/p>\n
My second idea for a topic was to make reference to a timely event and the turning of the year was, naturally, \u201cbrought to mind.\u201d Researching New Year\u2019s Eve traditions, I discovered that the song we associate with this occasion was written down by a Scottish poet \u2014 guess who? \u201cAuld Lang Syne\u201d was collected, revised, and submitted by Robert Burns to a compilation of traditional Scottish songs at the end of the 18th century. It has undergone a few changes in melody and Burns\u2019 words can be translated from Scots to English, but it is essentially the same as he recorded it \u201clong, long ago.\u201d A detailed study of this song\u2019s history, including an analysis of its musical evolution, can be found here<\/a>. \u201cAuld Lang Syne,\u201d a song about honouring old friendships, is the culmination of Hogmanay, the Scottish year-end celebration. Revels then extend into the New Year with visits to the homes of family and friends where gifts symbolizing various types of luck are given; special significance is placed on the first-foot, meaning first visitor. This was the extent of my investigation into the subject of Scottish New Year traditions, however, so I cast about for a third alternate topic.<\/p>\n Usually this column is inspired by my current historical research and this month I stumbled upon a fabulous source, \u201cThe Stone Cutters\u2019 Journal,\u201d a scanned publication available online through HathiTrust<\/a>. This early union magazine recorded details relevant to my Glenbow Town and Quarry research, since some of the Glenbow men were mentioned in its pages. I found evidence of union involvement, as well as obituaries and photographs. While thrilling to me, I wasn\u2019t sure this discovery warranted a whole column, the main moral for family historians being the value of the HathiTrust database.<\/p>\n