A Hilarious History of the Haggis: Burns Night Special

In this episode, Jenny MacHaggis and Annie MacNeep explore the rich history of mythologies, legends and recipes of Scotland’s national dish: the haggis.

We look at the ingredients in a Victorian haggis and blether about what folklore of the wild haggis tell us about Scottish identity. What is the old legend of how the haggis freed Scotland? Is that haggis related to the bagpipe?

We’ve used the Scottish Poetry Library to find Address to a Haggis by Robert Burns. The Victorian Haggis Recipe came from the Dumfries Herald of 1864 and the haggis legends came from the Montrose Standard of 1925 and a selection of other Scottish local newspapers. You can listen to a haggis making oral history on Tobar an Dualchais here: www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/106790 or a haggisy song here: www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/48899 .

Stories of Scotland is a multi-award winning Scottish history podcast, proudly recorded in Inverness in the Highlands. We research our heritage and mythology podcast using archives, books, museum objects, and oral histories from across Scotland. 

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