Burns Night in Edinburgh: 23 pictures showing how the Capital's residents celebrated the Scottish bard half a century ago
On January 25 each year people around the world celebrate Robert Burns’ birthday – and it was no different in the Capital over half a century ago.
Traditionally a Burns Supper is held on the Bard's birthday, although the first was held by the poet’s friends at Burns Cottage on July 21 to mark the fifth anniversary of his death.
Over a meal of haggis, neeps and tatties poetry is recited, such as ‘To a Mouse’ and ‘Address to the Haggis’, with the men making fun of the women in the ‘Toast to the Lassies', before the girls have the last laugh with the 'Reply From the Lassies'.
After Burns Suppers were forced to be cancelled due to the pandemic last year, they are now returning – thanks to the lifting of recent Covid restrictions.
Here’s what was going on in the Capital in the 1950s and 1960s.
Read more:
Edinburgh' s Morningside: These 28 pictures from the 1950s and 1960s show the fascinating past of the residential neighbourhood
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1. Poetry in motion
Poets Norman MacCaig, Hugh MacDiarmid and Sydney Goodsir Smith at a Burns Supper at the Peacock, Newhaven, in 1959.
Photo: Unknown
2. Diners assemble
The Old Peoples Welfare Council Burns Supper in the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms in 1963.
Photo: Unknown
3. A grand evening out
The Edinburgh Widows and Widowers Association Burns Supper in 1963.
Photo: Unknown
4. Bard Centrepiece
The Craiglockhart Parish Church Men's Association Burns Supper in 1965.
Photo: Unknown