THE HAGGIS

Several years ago a young couple and their twin daughters (aged about three) sat down to dinner one evening. Like most Canadians they were of a mixed heritage being Scottish, German, English, and a bit of Irish as well. During the course of the meal the young couple recalled the unexpected passing of the wife’s father (Arthur) in the previous year as well as his great love of the Haggis.

At special times of the year such as Robbie Burns’s birthday, or Grandpa’s own birthday, a Haggis was prepared in honour of the occasion. The “guid wife” (Ethel) had an old family recipe for this traditional Scots dish and followed it with care. The “Great chieftain o’ the puddin’race” would then be carried steaming to the dining table and placed before the “head o’ the Clan”. Arthur would then offer “grace as lang’s my arm” and after having stabbed the thing would ladle generous portions to all who would partake of this delicacy.

As the young couple reminisced about the good times now gone, one of the twins asked, “What’s a Haggis, Daddy”?

The parents together tried to explain, in language the little ones would understand, all about the Haggis and it’s place in the history of Scotland with the father ending with a statement to the effect that it was the national dish that the Scots ate quite often.

After a short silence one little girl piped up and solemnly said, “Yeah, but not real people, eh, Daddy”?

K.M. Streich

November 2005

A true story placed in the town of Wingham, Ontario about 1967.

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