The Hallowed Haggis:
A Robert Burns Celebration
January 20, 2024
We all know January–the time of the year when holiday delights have faded into the snow and the dark cold nights of winter threaten despair… We have an antidote: The Hallowed Haggis: A Robert Burns Celebration.
Come push against the darkness, and join us for a seriously silly celebration of the words and song of the Ploughman Poet, Robert Burns. Indulge your whimsy, and join in the revelry as we enjoy the smoky taste of great whiskey, the play of candlelight against silver, the wail of the bagpipes, the Spillian Haggis Games, and a great feast of the Hallowed Haggis… Hilarity will ensue.
What the hell is Haggis, you ask? Its liver, tongue and other unmentionable bits together with Scottish oats, onions, stock and herbs all cooked together into “the great chieftain o’ the pudding race.” Put away your mocking thoughts, and know that this is one delicious bit of pie. And, in deference to those who think it is truly terrifying, we will offer haggis to taste alongside Chef Christian’s superb takes on much more accessible Scots carnivorous and vegetarian fare…
Our co-founder Leigh Melander and our great friends and colleagues, theatre artist Robert Smythe and textile artist Susan Smythe, will be co-directing the delights of the weekend and spurring you on to great Haggis heights. And John “Johnny Piper” McGovern will be evoking the highlands and bringing us into line with his bagpipes throughout the evening.
Join us as we push back winter’s dark cloak with games, verse, drinks and superb food, all invoking – and evoking – your inner Highlander.
Three ways to play:
- Come for the evening: Saturday Robert Burns Supper & Festivities
- Come for the day: Saturday Haggis Games, Robert Burns Supper & Festivities
- Stay the night: The Full Haggis – The Haggis Games, Supper, Festivities and Overnight Stay
Please join us! Space is limited, so advanced reservations are required.
The Haggis Games
- 1 to 4 PM: The Spillian Haggis Games, a superbly silly array of activities and competitions to get your inner Highlander primed for the Robert Burns Feast and contests. We’re still putting final touches on this year’s game plan, but here are some of the ridiculousness we’re considering…
- A Scots Dialect Lesson: Och, aye… Land in the language of Burns and explore your talent for accents and/or a touch of moxie. Click here for a list of Robert Burns poems you can practice on.
- An Ode to an Ode: A guided chance to release your inner poet and create an ode to that which you love, to share at the dinner table with your fellow celebrants and competitors. Fear not! Even if your inner poet is shy; sublime or absurd, we’ll help you get to full-on poet status for the evening.
- To the Toasts!: How to hold the heart and soul of what you’re honoring as you make a toast that will ring in the memories of all who join us.
- Rad Plaid Pads: Invent your own plaid as you weave your own hot pad holder. (Crafts for grownups!)
- The Spillian Auld Lang Syne Orchestra Rehearsal: Kazoos await those who are brave enough to become a member of the band. Only the smallest modicum of musical talent required…bravado counts. (And those of you who actually play instruments, feel free to bring yours and help guide the mayhem.)
- The Bar will open at 1 PM if you need some liquid courage, and we’ll have some Spillian-made snacks on hand for noshing in the afternoon.
The Robert Burns Feast & Festivities
A family style feast around our extraordinary mahogany dining table, all dressed for the occasion. This table is a true place of convivium, where tales are topped, ideas are birthed, and friendships created. We will toast, dine, share stories, poetry, the music of the pipes, announce the winners of the Haggis Games. We will have both carnivore and vegetarian menu choices, just let us know which would prefer when you buy your tickets.
The Menu
Salad (V)
charred fennel, cranberries, candied pecans, cucumbers
over arugula with a house made lemon vinaigrette
First Course (V)
roasted tartan veggies
parsnips, carrots, rutabaga, and potatoes with smoked salt, local honey and thyme
and a tasting for the brave:
the mighty haggis: great chieftain o’ the puddin’ race
Vegivore Entrée (V)
our famous vegetarian mushroom wellington
served with an apple cider reduction and braised leeks
Carnivore Entrée
whiskey marmalade braised lamb shanks with a smokey bacon au jus
served over a leek and barley risotto
Dessert (+V)
raspberry whiskey cranachan with scottish shortbread
both dairy and vegan versions
coffee | spillian cat’s love tea | spillian sweet winter orange tea | lemonade | cucumber water
The Schedule
- 5 PM: Cocktail hour featuring the Spillian Highland, with local Catskills whiskey, a whisper of the heather on the hills, and a curl of smoke. And some Spillian snacks…
- 7 PM: A full-flown Robert Burns Supper, with a feast from Spillian’s chef Christian Van Etten around our grand table, featuring traditional and vegan haggis along with his creative takes on the evocative flavors of Scotland; and all of the glorious pageantry of a traditional Burns Supper, featuring poetry, speechifying, and the magic of John “Johnny Piper” McGovern on bagpipes.
- After Dinner: The final round of Haggis Games contests, including the memorable Bonniest Knees Contest for our kilt-wearers (bribes will be encouraged), awards, and rousing last chorus of Auld Lang Syne with the Spillian Auld Lang Syne Orchestra. Don’t have your kilt? No worries…we’ve got a flock of them thanks to Johnny Piper, and are happy to lend you one for the day.
Pricing
Advance reservations required.
The Robert Burns Supper & Festivities: $80 per person
Join us for the cocktail hour, supper, and festivities. Cocktails begin at 5 PM, dinner at 7 PM. Includes dinner, and the evening’s entertainment. Cash bar, tax and gratuities not included.
Saturday Haggis Games, Robert Burns Supper & Festivities: $95 per person
Join us for the Haggis Games, cocktail hour, supper, and festivities. Games begin at 1 PM. Includes afternoon games, dinner, and the evening’s entertainment. Cash bar, tax and gratuities not included.
The Full Hallowed Haggis: $365 per couple
Make it a getaway! The Full Hallowed Haggis includes The Haggis Games, cocktail hour, supper, the evening’s entertainment, an overnight stay with a light breakfast featuring our house-made bagels and turnovers on Sunday morning, and sales tax.. Cash bar and gratuities not included. Click here to learn more about our splendid guest rooms! Check in at noon on Saturday, check out at 11 AM on Sunday.
About Johnny Piper
By day an attorney, and at all other moments, wild man Johnny Piper, John McGovern is a talented traditional bagpipe player, playing both with Ulster County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard & Alternative Ulster, a punk/Celtic fusion band that raises every roof in a 20 mile radius. Johnny will be joining us in full kit and as much sobriety as the occasion invites, providing a memorable bagpipe soundtrack to our evening’s entertainments.
About Leigh Melander, PhD
Leigh has a doctorate in cultural mythology and psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and wrote her dissertation on frivolity as an entry into imagination. She has an eclectic background in the arts as well as consulting in strategic planning, outreach and marketing, and event planning for over 20 years. She has performed, and taught and facilitated explorations of imagination and creativity internationally, working with individuals and groups to help them find their way to bringing their wild ideas to life.
Her undergraduate degree is in performance, literature, and history from Penn State, and she studied writing by invitation with Nobel Poet Laureate Derek Walcott at Boston University. She has has appeared in various media outlets, including the History Channel, as a mythology expert, and has published articles in Spring Journal, The Routledge International Handbook of Jungian Film Studies, The Mythology CD-ROM. She hosted two weekly radio shows on an NPR affiliate for several years: Myth America (now available as a podcast), an exploration into how myth shapes our sense of identity; and The Reveling Radio Hour, an irreverent mashup of her take on the old Fleischmanns Yeast Radio Hour variety shows, self-help podcasts, and Being John Malkovich. She served for four years as the Vice President of the Joseph Campbell Foundation and the editor of their MythBlast series. She is a presenter and coach in creativity and imagination, and her first book, Psyche’s Choice: The Frivolous Revolution is available on Amazon Kindle.
