March/April 2019 The North Carolina Mason Page 3
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.
Good luck to you and your honest, plump face,
Great chieftain of the pudding race!
Above them all you take your place,
gut, stomach-lining, or intestine,
You're well worth a grace
as long as my arm.
— Robert Burns, Address to a Haggis
Sophia #767 throws Robert Burns a party
N
othing says happy birthday like
a heaping helping of haggis,
a blast of bagpipe and tons of
tartan.
e brothers of Sophia #767 did
beloved poet Robert Burns proud on
Jan. 26 – 260 years and one day to the
day the prolific "Ploughman Poet"
who wrote Auld Lang Syne was born.
ere were toasts and responses,
toasts and singing, toasts and laughter,
and, well … more toasts. Clad in
tartan and wool, the brothers, their
bonnie lasses and friends honored
their Scottish hero with a glamourous
night at the historic Rowan Museum
in Salisbury.
He is beloved within the Craft,
which he joined at the age of 22.
Scholars say Masonic rules and
traditions strongly influenced and
appeared in his writings. "For Burns,
Freemasonry was a compound of
mysticism and conviviality," writes
World Burns Club Member Todd J.
Wilkinson.
Masonic lodges around the world
celebrate his birth every year; this was
a first for Sophia Lodge.
Tartan-clad brothers go all out for Robbie Burns' birthday at a special event in Salisbury. Photos by Beth Grace and Mike Harding.
