Thought for the day :"My Nan used to say “Take everything with a pinch of salt”. Lovely lady, made terrible tea though..."

Did a presentation this evening on the subject of the haggis - though I would share it here

Haggis

As we approach Burns' night for another year it is time to look a little more closely in to the life of that supremely elusive character - the Haggis.

We all know that Haggis is part of Scottish heritage, but it is less well known that the Haggis was once very prevalent throughout the Yorkshire Moors, indeed at one time it is thought it was more prevalent there than anywhere else ...

But first - let us look at the origins of this fascinating creature...

Origins

It is believed that the present wild haggis population is descended from the feral haggis, which in turn were the descendants of the domesticated Hebridean haggis,

abandoned when the native Scots crofters and their families were forced to leave the land at the time of the Highland Clearances (Scottish Gaelic: Fuadach nan Gàidheal, the expulsion of the Gael), the forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Like the crofters themselves, the haggis faced extinction through competition with the large numbers of sheep which were introduced as part of a process of agricultural change, considered to be necessary ‘improvements’ by the land owners. Owing to their inability to move on other terrain, plus their need for a constant supply of local heather and peaty burns – haggis have an acute sensitivity to water pH balance – none of the live pet haggis which the crofters attempted to take with them survived for more than a few days away from their native mountain sides.

A large number of wild haggis still roam the moors and machair of the Western Isles and, despite the Isles of Lewis and Harris having a strict Sabbatarian tradition, the Hebridean Haggis Hunt is one of the few events that takes place on a Sunday across all of the islands – including Lewis and Harris.

The Lewis Haggis is different from the Haggis on the mainland: unlike its mainland relative all its legs are of the same length. Capturing of wild haggis on Lewis is a traditional community event. At dusk, the young men of the villages go out on to the moors to form a wide semi-circle while the elders cover peat creels with heather and turf, just leaving the opening visible. The young men, acting as ‘beaters’, drive the haggis towards the traps.

On perceiving the elders, the haggis panic, seek shelter and mistaking the creels for burrows the haggis are caught, quickly dispatched and passed to the women-folk for skinning. The haggis are then soaked in brine for a couple of days to become tender and ready to cook. (According to one authoritative source, a resident of Lewis, traditionally the haggis skin would be used as a sporran, but with the decline in kilt wearing over the years the skins are now often discarded.)

But I mentioned that the haggis thrived in Yorkshire!!

The Yorkshire Haggis Hunt!

This once popular sport amongst the nobility and gentry of Britain and Europe reached its peak in the early 1920s with gentlemen converging on the stately homes of the North Yorkshire Moors from all around Europe during haggis hunting season. Back in those days, when large haggis herds roamed the Moors in abundance, a hunt would last for several days, with literally dozens of haggis being shot (or hagged in hunting parlance) in just one session.

A typical haggis hunting session would consist of the beaters, or haggillies to give them their correct name, taking their haggis hounds, an all but forgotten breed of specialised hunting dog, onto the Moors and herding the haggis towards the carefully positioned haggis hides. In these hides the hunters would wait patiently until the traditional cry of ‘Hag Ho!’ went up from the chief hagilly, at which point they would take up their gun positions and attempt to hag as many of the small but elusive creatures as possible as they stampeded past.

In the intervening years between then and now there have been several unconfirmed sightings of haggis around the Moors, but the sad truth is that the haggis were hunted out of existence on the Moors and are now confined to the Highlands of Scotland.

There are unconfirmed rumours that there is a network of Haggi rustlers which illegally smuggle the haggis across the border … but Haggis fighting is now illegal in most places and is often associated with other Criminal Activities.

But lets us get back to the main Haggis of today ..

The common Haggis found today is the Scottish Haggis or Albas Haggisorium.

This haggis is a small four legged creature found in the Highlands of Scotland. The legs on one side of the creature are smaller than those on the other, which means that it can run around the side of hills easily at a level altitude: but it does mean that the haggis can easily be caught by running round the hill in the opposite direction, for the creature cannot turn round to escape. If it did so the difference in the length of its legs would cause it to lose stability and roll downhill, with fatal consequences.

One theory suggests that there are actually two species of haggis. One has longer left legs,known as Haggi Sinister, the other having longer right legs the Haggi Dexter: so while one goes clockwise around hills the other goes anticlockwise around them. The two species coexist peacefully, but cannot interbreed. For a male to turn around and attempt to mate with a female of the "opposite" genus would cause it to lose stability and roll downhill, with fatal consequences.

Over time, natural selection caused the difference between leg lengths in both breeds to become more marked.

Interestingly enough, there is an equivalent creature in Canada.

This is the sidehill gouger, a resident of the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, and in France and Switzerland, in particular the Aosta Valley there is the Dahu.

Apart from the difference in name and habitat, in all other respects, these are almost identical to wild haggis...

But it is our own Haggis that are hunted in the wild and the end result is the well known sausage-like food that we all know and love. An Australian news report from 2003 quoted a survey of 1,000 Americans in which one in three US visitors to Scotland believed in the wild Haggis and one in four were keen to hunt and catch a wild haggis.

Accounts differ about the origin of the name. Some claim it comes from a Scandinavian word such as höggva, meaning to chop: others that it comes from the Old French agace, meaning magpie, a bird that makes use of odds and ends.

Apart from Eating and celebrating at Burns' Night there is also the national sport of Haggis Hurling.

This traditional Scottish sport started with the crofters, when the haggis would be prepared for lunch for the man of the family who was out working the croft or cutting peat, by his wife. Scotland is a land of rivers and bogs, so walking from the croft house to the place of work could often entail a long way round to cross a river or low lying ground.

In these cases the wife would throw the cooked haggis to the husband, who would catch it using the front apron of his kilt. If he dropped it, he either went hungry; or spent the afternoon scraping his lunch off a rock; or bits of peat off his lunch. Hunger breeds excellence.

For many years the World Record for Haggis Hurling was held by Alan Pettigrew of Saltcoats.

In August 1984 he threw a 1lb 8 oz Haggis 180 feet 10 inches on the island of Inchmurrin on Loch Lomond. This now appears to have been overtaken. On 11 June 2011, Lorne Coltart of Blair Atholl threw a haggis 214 feet 9 inches at the 39th Milngavie and Bearsden Highland games.

There are a number of rules associated with modern haggis hurling:

The purpose is to compete for both distance and accuracy from on top of a platform, usually a half a whisky barrel.

The haggis must be of traditional construction and recipe. Tender boiled sheep's heart, lung and liver with spices, onions, suet and oatmeal and stock stuffed in a sheep's paunch which has then been boiled for three hours. The haggis must land intact: a broken or split haggis results in disqualification.

The sporting haggis weighs 500 grams, with a maximum diameter of 18 cm and length of 22 cm. An allowance of ±30 grams is given and this weight is used in both junior and middle weight events. The heavyweight event allows haggis up to 1 kg in weight, but the standard weight of 850 grams is more common, with an allowance of ±50 grams.

Judging is undertaken by the Hagrarian, with the assistance of the Clerk of the Heather and the Steward of the Heather. The Hagrarian checks that each haggis is in order, the Clerk of the Heather blows the hooter to begin the hurl, and the Steward of the Heather measures the hurl (always in feet and inches) and confirms the haggis remains unburst.

But was Haggis Hurling really a traditional Sport?

In 1977, one Robin Dunseath placed an advert in a Scottish national newspaper announcing that at the Gathering of the Clans that year in Edinburgh there would be a revival of the ancient Scottish sport of haggis hurling. The response was unexpected: large numbers of people wanted to take part, and many who did take part then took the sport back to the United States, Canada and Australia, where competitions were established by people who believed they were reviving a traditional Scottish sport extinct since the early 1800s.

The funds raised by the hoax went to charity.

And so that is the story of the common haggis - its origin and history, its role in the sports of the nation and how it has become the food of the Gods.... and celebrated each year at this time of year....

A word of caution though - if you are thinking of going Haggis Hunting - don't do it on a full moon
That is when the Were Haggis fly!!