GREEN GROVE THE RASHES
[a fragment]
Green grove the rashes, O!
Green grove the rashes, O!
The sweetest that e'er I spent
Were spent amang the lasses, O!
Oggi gli Scozzesi di tutto il mondo ricordano il compleanno di Robert "Rabbie" Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), "the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply The Bard".
In Nuova Zelanda, dove gli scozzesi sono migliaia, stanno già togliendo le mense della Burns Supper del 2012 e pianificando quella dell'anno prossimo; in Canada dove essi sono forse anche di più, aspettano che cada il coprifuoco etilico per cominciare a prepararsi spiritualmente alla notte incipiente.
In Scozia, dove tutto è cominciato, stanno andando a tavola, con l'intenzione di restarci (intorno, poi sopra, poi eventualmente anche sotto) per molto tempo ancora, cantando, recitando versi, brindando in onore degli uni e dell'altre (che Burns Night sarebbe senza il "Toast to the Lassies", e le Lassies medesime?) e la successiva replay...mangiando e godendo del calore di malti salutari.
Così Walter Scott, che sedicenne lo incontrò a Edimburgo, ebbe a descrivere il Bardo:
"His person was strong and robust; his manners rustic, not clownish, a sort of dignified plainness and simplicity which received part of its effect perhaps from knowledge of his extraordinary talents. His features are presented in Mr Nasmyth's picture but to me it conveys the idea that they are diminished, as if seen in perspective. I think his countenance was more massive than it looks in any of the portraits ... there was a strong expression of shrewdness in all his lineaments; the eye alone, I think, indicated the poetical character and temperament. It was large, and of a dark cast, and literally glowed when he spoke with feeling or interest. I never saw such another eye in a human head, though I have seen the most distinguished men of my time."(*)  Questo sembiante eroico del Bardo sarà l'immagine che la gente di Scozia si porterà dentro nei secoli a seguire, confortata dalla sua condotta in vita e dal suo cantare franco e sicuro nella lingua propria di quelle Terre. E il Ricordo andrà fatto a tavola, appunto, in abbondante compagnia rispettando un canovaccio non ancora antico ma profondamente radicato, gradito al re Edoardo VII quando era Principe di Galles. Egli amava allora atteggiarsi a Grande di Scozia, in riguardo di una unità del Regno appunto Unito, affidata alla riscoperta dei costumi ancestrali e alle cacce al cervo più che ad una lungimirante azione di sviluppo sociale ed economico paritario e comunitario. Ma la tradizione è e rimane Scozzese, equamente celebrata nelle famiglie, nei club, nei municipi come nelle Università, dove anche gli overseas students si fanno volentieri coinvolgere nell'atmosfera di musica e ballo del céilidh or ceilidh (English pronunciation: /ˈkeɪlɪ/), la festa gaelica che precede, accompagna e segue la Burns Supper come ogni agape di Scozzesi che si rispetti. Depositaria e cantore delle tradizioni culinarie scozzesi è Florence Marian McNeill (**), grande conoscitrice dell'opera di Sir Walter e della letteratura e della storia Scozzese come dei Wiskies e dei sapori di quella terra che il disprezzo inglese giunse a chiamare North of England, negandone perfino il nome. Dall'opera fondamentale di F.M.McNeill, The Scots Kitchen pubblicata per la prima volta nel 1929 trascriviamo A MODERN BURNS SUPPER Bill of Fare Het Kail Cock a Leekie Bawd Bree Cabbie-Claw Herring Fillets Fried in Oatmeal Rarebit THE HAGGIS Clapshot or Tatties and Neeps Het Joints Roastit Bubbljock Rostit Sirloin o'Aberdeen Angus Beef Cheston Crappin Ayrshire Tatties Musselburgh Sprouts Inter-Orra Eattocks Hattit Kit Drambuie Cream Aipple Frushie wi' Whuppit Cream Gusty Kickshaws Finnan-Toasties Dunlop Kebbuck or Higland Crowdie wi' wee Ait Bannocks ------ A Tassie o' Coffee ...e scusate se è poco! Per festeggiare insieme anche noi, ecco un piatto leggero, e perfino vegetariano: Dunlop and Spinach Strudel (Dunlop is a mild cheese or 'sweet-milk cheese' from Dunlop in East Ayrshire) Serves 4 Ingredients 25g/1oz Butter 100g/4oz Leeks, well cleaned and thinly sliced 100g/4oz Fresh Spinach, shredded 100g/4oz Dunlop Cheese, grated Salt and Pepper 225g/8oz Strudel Pastry 1 Egg, beaten Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 200C, 400F, Gas Mark 6 and lightly oil a flat baking tray. 2. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add leeks and sauté stirring, for 5 minutes until softened. 3. Add the spinach and mix well so the spinach just starts to wilt. 4. Remove the pan from the heat add the cheese, a little salt and pepper and mix well. Set aside. 5. Roll the pastry out very thinly into an oblong about 30cm/12-inches wide then spread the spinach mixture thinly over the pastry to within 2.5cm/1-inch of the edges. 6. Brush the edges of pastry with half the egg then roll up the pastry starting at one of the short ends. 7. Press the edges firmly together and crimp to seal then lay it on the baking sheet, seam side down and make diagonal cuts through the top of the pastry through to the filling at 5cm/2 inch intervals, to allow steam to escape during the cooking. 8. Brush the top with the remaining egg and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot or cold. Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit. Cheers! Per ascoltare e guardare Edie Reader che interpreta Green Grow the Rushes Oer : "Eddi Reader MBE (born Sadenia Reader; 29 August 1959) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known both for her work with Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards and has topped both the album and singles charts. In 2003 she showcased the works of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns." (*) cit. da JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART in: MEMOIRS OF THE LIFEOFSIR WALTER SCOTT BART. Edinburgh, R. Cadell;1837-38. (**) L'autrice stessa merita una piccola digressione, grazie a una biografia degna dello stesso R.B. Vide ultra (***) "Florence Marian McNeill (1885–1973) was born in the Free Church manse, Holm in Orkney. Her mother died when her youngest brother was only three and her father, a graduate in divinity and medicine, kept up many of the old traditions and customs. It was her early life on the islands which was to shape her life-long passion for Scottish culture and history. She moved from Orkney so that her secondary education could be taken in Glasgow as well as private schools in Paris and the Rhineland. She then returned to Glasgow to graduate from the university with an arts degree. She travelled extensively as a young woman, visiting Greece, Palestine and Egypt and then living and working in London as part of the suffragette movement." Her first book Iona: A History of the Island was published in 1920 following a visit Marian made to the island. Her only novel, The Road Home, was published in 1932 and was loosely based on her years in Glasgow and London. The Scottish traditions which Marian had been brought up on shaped two of her books, The Scots Kitchen (published in 1929) and The Scots Cellar (1956), which both celebrated old recipes and customs and provide a social history of northern domestic life. (***) Possibly the best-known and most iconic writer from Scotland, Robert Burns continues to fascinate, centuries after his death. Due to the annual Burns Night celebrations, which take place on January 25th each year, the 'ploughman poet' (an expression that belied his education) is remembered fondly in Scotland, and in many other countries all over the world. The outline of his life and his passions for women, songs, and drink are well known and contribute in no small part to his popularity. Born in Alloway, Ayrshire in 1759 into fairly humble circumstances, Robert received a certain amount of schooling and was well read for a boy of his background. He began his working life as an apprentice flax-dresser in Irvine, Ayrshire, but after his father died he worked the family farm along with his brother, Gilbert. In 1786 he had published, in Kilmarnock, a first collection of poems: Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, which made him an overnight success. He went to Edinburgh where he was well received by the polite society of the day (though Burns' personality did not always sit well with that world). As well as poetry, Burns is well known for his songs, and his contributions to George Thomson's A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice and James Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum have perhaps contributed more to his 'Immortal Memory' around the world; the most famous being, 'My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose', 'Ae Fond Kiss' and of course, 'Auld Lang Syne', sung at Hogmanay. He died in 1796 in Dumfries at the age of 37, his life foreshortened by drink and poor health, and leaving a widow, Jean Armour, and a large family. | ||
