More on Burns

You lot up there in the northern hemisphere probably already know this; the Burns Cottage Museum, Alloway has a blog where they will be posting Robert Burns' letters on the day they were written from November 1787 onwards.

It is part of the work by the National Trust for Scotland to not only celebrate Burns’ 250th anniversary and raise awareness of the man and his letters, but also the upcoming new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.

This Welcome from David Hopes, Burns’ Curator, Burns Cottage Museum, Alloway explains the reasoning behind the project.

FYI

Stumbled upon when reading an article about Robert Burns' republican sentiments in the Guardian book blog:

Honouring the Bard: some facts

• Sales of haggis are expected to soar this year. Two well-known suppliers, Macsweens and Ken Stahly, have reported record sales in advance of Burns Night, with 650 Burns suppers already officially registered for the Homecoming festival.
• Scottish haggis is still banned in the United States, but not in Canada, after the BSE crisis, but expats claim that haggis smuggling thrives.
• A wicker fire sculpture of Tam O'Shanter will be burnt on Burns Night in Dumfries, where Burns died in 1796, as part of a celebratory fire festival and lantern parade.
• In Alloway, Burns's birthplace, his cottage, the Brig o'Doon and Alloway Auld Kirk and graveyard, the setting for Tam O'Shanter, will be stage sets for a theatrical Burns tribute
• Roughly 10,000 Highland clan members from around the world are expected to attend a clan gathering and Highland games in Edinburgh in July.
• The Scottish football cup has been renamed the Homecoming Scottish cup, more than 250 Burns compositions will be sung or read in a 12-hour long Burns poetry extravaganza in Glasgow, and 100 million US and Canadian television viewers will see a Homecoming advert on cable channels to boost tourism and visitor numbers.