Dinner honoring Scottish poet provides West Virginians connection to heritage

Jan. 18—FAIRMONT — Land of farm and the field. Although it's a phrase that can be evocative of West Virginia, it's what Scottish poet Robert Burns tried to engender in his readers when writing about the people and land of his ancestral home.

However, West Virginia's mountains and hills resemble Scotland's own enough that its people were among the first to settle here. And now, that heritage carries through events like the one held by the Scottish Heritage Society of North Central West Virginia, which will hold a Robert Burns dinner in honor of the poet and Scottish heritage on Saturday, Jan. 20.

"They parade that haggis, the cook carries it out," Tom Bell, president of the society said. "There's a piper that leads it out and I lead it out with a couple of bottles of scotch and when it's all done a man stands over it and reads this poem. It's really long and Old English, and then we thrust this huge dagger into the haggis, this huge steam comes out."

Several toasts follow, from the queen or king to different people the society chooses to honor. Afterward, members tear into the Haggis for dinner.

Burns lived between 1759 and 1796. He was one of the heralds of the Romantic period, a European cultural movement that emphasized the common folk, meaning regular everyday people and the culture that united them.

What distinguishes the Romantic period from previous cultural eras is that art and literature prior to the Romantic writers tended to focus on members of the monarchy and the upper class and high society. Romanticism was also an expression of nationalism, as artists and writers focused their art on works that defined a people's collective character. Burns is recognized as the foremost Scottish poet of the Romantic period.

"Like, you've heard of the Brothers Grimm," Angela Schwer, professor of English at Fairmont State University, said. "They were part of this movement. It was the German fairy tales. Those were considered to be not just fairy tales, but the tales of the common people. Let's pay attention not to the rulers and the intellectual leaders, let's look at what the common people want. And that's kind of a nationalist movement. So Burns stands for Scottish nationalism at the plough, at the farming level."

Burns was the son of a farmer, but despite his familiarity with hard, physical labor, Burns himself was also an intellectual. He was able to take advantage of Scotland's educational system, which was excellent for its time, to develop his talents. Burns wrote in the vernacular of his people, a Scot lowland dialect, and came to be known for his mastery of poetry dealing with matters of the heart.

"He's especially known for his love poetry, of course," Schwer said. "He had multiple affairs with multiple women, he enjoyed life, let's just say it that way. And he represented, even for the intellectual establishment in Edinburgh, where he eventually moved, he represented to them the spirit of the people of Scotland and I think that's why he's remembered now."

Burns' use of the lowland dialect in his writing kept his work from spreading very far in England, where readers were unaccustomed to that type of prose. However, Schwer said he was known among influential English poets of the age, such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Schwer said it's likely they saw Burns as a precursor to their own work, and gave them the confidence to write in the language of the common people rather than that of the elites.

Raymond Alvarez, Fairmont State University professor and town historian, said Scots Irish people and English were among the early settlers here in West Virginia in 1789.

"Boaz Fleming, whose father was born in Scotland, brought over 40 relatives and others whose names are all prominent in early Fairmont history," Alvarez said. "Flemings, Hutchinson, Barnes and Hamilton to name a few."

Irish and other immigrants from Europe joined the established Scots Irish population here as the railroads and coal mining expanded.

The Scottish Heritage Society of North Central West Virginia began as a collection of people in Bridgeport who wanted to celebrate their Scottish heritage.

They started with a festival in Bridgeport, which included Scottish cows, sheep dogs and reenactments all set to the sound of traditional pipes and drums playing in the hills. The quintessential Scottish experience, Bell assured. However, the ability to do the festival ended, but not before a core group of people who wanted to honor their ancestry gathered together. The Society came out of that.

"It isn't really easy to gather up all the people in West Virginia who had Scottish blood," Bell said. "We have a whole lot here and a lot of them are Scotch Irish."

Several Scots were shipped to the Ulster Plantation in Ireland, and after several generations many of them left the United Kingdom.

"And so all over the world Scottish people got scattered a long time ago," Bell said. "Every now and then, like in January, they get together to celebrate Robert Burns first and because they have an excuse to get together and do these Scottish things."

Scott Burnside, the society's treasurer, said the dinner has been happening for 20 years, and it predates the Society itself. The dinner takes place on or around Burns' birthday, Burnside said. It's also a common event, one that takes place worldwide among descendants of Scottish ancestry.

Although registration for the event closed on Monday, the Society does hold other events. They have a Facebook page and a website at scots-westvirginia.com. The page also has details on joining if one wishes to become a member.

Bell said it's important for people to have a sense of where they come from, regardless of ethnicity or nationality. Places of origin carry meaning, especially to the people who live there.

"We do seek ourselves, we try to find who we are," Bell said. "So we do a better job if we want to be in the world. And part of that is recognizing who we are, where we come from and what that means.

"So you don't have to study it, you can study another culture and be enriched the same way. But if you choose your own culture and you want to study it, well, you'll be enriched through that. It'll be good and everyone who knows you will be enriched the same way. We should all spend a little time knowing more who we are."

Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com