2025年2月，文化与创意学院与UIC工会、 人力资源部一同成功举办了一场别开生面的彭斯之夜活动，吸引了众多师生参与。
彭斯之夜不仅是对一位伟大诗人的致敬，更是一场融合音乐、美食、服饰、舞蹈和演讲的文化盛宴。活动以风笛游行拉开序幕，风笛手Tony带领身着苏格兰传统服饰的师生们穿过校园，来到中心湖畔。风笛的激昂乐声为活动增添了浓厚的苏格兰风情，也吸引了众多路人驻足观看。
随后，参与者们享用了传统的苏格兰美食。活动以一道新鲜的扁豆汤开场，配以面包和黄油。来自SCC的Mr Andrew Peat带来了当晚的第一场演讲。作为一名威士忌鉴赏家和电影制作人，Mr Andrew Peat以威士忌为主题，带领大家领略了苏格兰这一最具代表性的饮品的历史与文化。
主菜哈吉斯（haggis）是苏格兰的特色菜肴，由多种肉类、谷物和香料制成。由于哈吉斯在中国较为罕见，主办方特别准备了素食版本，并搭配了土豆泥和瑞典芜菁泥等传统配菜。这些菜肴经过精心调配，既保留了苏格兰风味，又融入了本地特色，赢得了参与者的一致好评。
来自人文社科学院的John Corbett 教授由此发表了传统的欢迎致辞——《致哈吉斯》，这是彭斯的一首诗。来自诗人彭斯故乡艾尔郡的John Corbett教授是苏格兰文学专家，他的致辞精准地捕捉到这首诗的意义和语调。
来自英语语言中心的Mr Dean MacKinnon Thomson发表了名为《不朽的记忆》的演讲。他阐述为什么彭斯激进的精神对我们是具有重要的：通过将彭斯诗歌和歌曲中贯穿的劳动人民的同情心和尊严与当今世界财富和权力集中在埃隆·马斯克等人手中的现状进行对比，揭示了彭斯思想的现实意义。
最后两场演讲传统上语气较为轻松，充满了玩笑和娱乐。文化与创意学院的Dr Bill Aitchison发表了《致女士们》的演讲，这是一个关于喝醉的苏格兰水手和格拉斯哥女士们的幽默故事。
澳门理工大学翻译研究的李丽教授发表了《致男士们的回应》，她巧妙地运用了演讲的形式，并恰如其分地试图结合了这个时代AI生成式演讲的尝试。
随后，约翰·科比特教授带领大家跳起了凯利舞。无论是六岁的孩童还是六十岁的长者，都在欢快的音乐中尽情舞动，感受苏格兰文化的独特魅力。
此次彭斯之夜是UIC首次举办这一传统节日，不仅为师生提供了一次深入了解苏格兰文化的机会，也展现了文化作为纽带的力量。活动主办方表示，未来将继续举办类似的文化活动，促进多元文化的交流与融合。
活动结束后，参与者纷纷表示，彭斯之夜不仅让他们领略了苏格兰的风土人情，也让他们在音乐、舞蹈和美食中感受到了文化的广度与深度。正如Dr Bill Aitchison 所说的：“文化是广泛的，它不仅仅是一个研究对象，而且也是将我们凝聚在一起的粘合剂。” (Culture is broad and is not just an object of study but it’s also the glue that binds us together.)
（以上内容根据Dr Bill Aitchison的回顾改写）
Dr Bill Aitchison's preview:
Traditionally a Burns Night is held in late January to celebrate the birthday of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns. This year it fell during Spring Festival so we waited till everyone was back on campus at UIC. To those unfamiliar with a Burns Night the prospect of celebrating the life of an 18th Century Scottish poet is probably not one to clear the calendar for. A Burns Night, however, is not only about an exceptional poet, it is a traditional festival that includes music, food, clothing, dancing, speeches and Scotland’s most famous export: whisky.
We started with a bagpipe parade that took us outdoors and to the lake in the centre of the campus. The pipes are a loud and very distinctive instrument that used to be used on the battlefield to strike fear into the hearts of enemies. Nowadays it is just as loud and stirring but it had the effect of alerting the university that something unique was unfolding: the Scots were gathering for a Burns Night. Sporting kilts and tartan accessories we followed our piper Tony as he lead us down steps and around the water’s edge.
We next sat down to eat. We started with a traditional lentil soup that was made fresh on the spot and served with bread and butter. As we were digesting, SCC’s Andrew Peat gave us our first speech of the evening, an introduction to whisky. As a whisky connoisseur and film-maker who has made a popular documentary about whisky, he was the perfect guide to this most Scottish of drinks. Its long history is peppered with interesting stories and is, naturally, the subject of some poems of Burns. We concluded with a tasting that brought a warm glow to faces up and down the table.
The main dish, the haggis, was now ready and was brought in with the piper leading it triumphantly to the table. Our big chieftain and master of ceremonies Professor John Corbett gave the traditional speech that welcomes it, The Address to the Haggis, a poem of Burns. John being an expert in Scottish literature and native of Ayr, where Burns too hails from, was able capture the meaning and tone of the poem quite wonderfully. As with the speech on whisky, this too concluded with a toast, an indeed did all of the speeches.
Haggis is not at all easy to find in China, it is a specialist Scottish dish that combines several meats with grains and spices. With a little effort and creativity we managed all the same and supplemented it with vegetarian haggis that was prepared especially for the occasion. Alongside these were served the two traditional sides of mashed potato and mashed swede. These too required some experimentation to find Chinese equivalents as swede is not grown in the same form in China. The final result was quite satisfactory and would not have been out of place on a dinner table in Edinburgh.
The next speech in a Burns Night is one called the The Immortal Memory and it was Dean MacKinnon Thomson of the ELC was gave it. The point of this speech is to draw out why Burns is still significant to us today. Dean did this admirably by connecting and contrasting the compassion and dignity of working people that runs throughout the poetry and songs of Burns with our present concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the Elon Musks of the world. The radical spirit of Burns would have been proud!
The final two speeches are traditionally more light in tone and engage in banter and entertainment. The Address to the Lassies was given by SCC’s Dr Bill Aitchison, a tongue in cheek tale of Scottish sailors and ladies of Glasgow who’d drunk too much. The Reply to the Laddies was given by Daisy Li, Professor of Translation Studies at Macau Polytechnic University who played with the form of the speech and, appropriately for our times, AI’s attempts to produce it.
With the speeches and toasts concluded we were suitably merry and in need of stretching the legs. Right on cue came the ceilidh. This is a dance party set to traditional music with a number of group dances. John first demonstrated the dances then called them as we tried to follow the moves to the incessant fiddle music. The result was a very enjoyable mix of collective choreography and barely controlled chaos. We turned, held hands, trotted and kicked our legs one way and another as everyone danced with everyone in circles, lines and pairs. Young and old from six to sixty, we all shared this special moment and made some new friends in the process.
A Burns Night then is a special sort of festival where everything is connected and flows. In a university setting where we all have our disciplinary focus, it is good to be reminded that music goes with dancing, that costume goes with space, that food goes with poetry, that whisky can take us to politics and just as easily to new friendships. Culture is broad and is not just an object of study but it’s also the glue that binds us together. This was the first time for UIC to host a Burns Night and we’d like to thank SCC, the Union and the HR department for their support of it. We hope to see you at another one in the future.
