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Burns's hometown of Alloway in southern Ayrshire opened a Scotland-wide programme of poetry readings, music and dance to celebrate the life of the author of "Auld Lang Syne."
On Sunday, the Celtic Connections music festival in Glasgow will hold a Jamaican Burns Night, highlighting the fact that the poet was set to emigrate to Jamaica before his first book of poems published in 1786 became a success.
And on Sunday evening in Alloway, Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond will sit down to a traditional Burns Night Supper -- the dish of minced sheep's heart, liver and lungs mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet, stock and salt, and boiled in the animal's stomach.
"Burns was indeed a man who spoke for all occasions. A man born of humble rank, whose legacy today goes far beyond riches," Salmond said Saturday evening.
"Tonight, we celebrate not just the man of the moment, but Scotland's human being of the millennium."
He added: "Over 200 years since his work was written, it has been translated into every known language. And it is as resonant today as it ever was."
Fans of the poet have set up a website in a bid to break the world record for the largest simultaneous toast, hoping that hundreds of thousands around the world will raise their glasses to "the immortal memory of Robert Burns" on Sunday evening.
More broadly, the 250th anniversary celebrations are being used by the Scottish government as a springboard for over 300 events over the course of the year to promote Scotland as a tourist destination.
The Edinburgh government is aiming to attract at least an extra 100,000 tourists to Scotland this year as a result, generating an extra 40 million pounds (41.8 million euros, 54.3 million dollars) in revenue.
Burns's face also adorns a set of postage stamps created by the Royal Mail to commemorate the 250th anniversary, with one featuring the words of one of his best-known poems, "A Man's A Man For A' That".
The poem, written in 1795, became an anthem of the slavery abolitionists. Two centuries later, it was sung at the opening of the Scottish parliament in 1999.
"Around the world, people are proud of Robert Burns," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, himself a Scot and a fan of Burns's writings.
"I think the whole world has a right to celebrate the achievement of one of the great poets of all time."
Prince Charles joined Salmond in reading poems for the Burns archive, which is aimed at ensuring that his poems are available to future generations.
Born on January 25, 1759, Burns died when he was just 37, but filled his life with bawdy romps through the picturesque hills of Ayrshire and Dumfries which provided the inspiration for much of his work.
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Image of commemorative British stamps featuring Scottish poet Robert Burns, from AFP.
On Sunday, the Celtic Connections music festival in Glasgow will hold a Jamaican Burns Night, highlighting the fact that the poet was set to emigrate to Jamaica before his first book of poems published in 1786 became a success.
And on Sunday evening in Alloway, Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond will sit down to a traditional Burns Night Supper -- the dish of minced sheep's heart, liver and lungs mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet, stock and salt, and boiled in the animal's stomach.
"Burns was indeed a man who spoke for all occasions. A man born of humble rank, whose legacy today goes far beyond riches," Salmond said Saturday evening.
"Tonight, we celebrate not just the man of the moment, but Scotland's human being of the millennium."
He added: "Over 200 years since his work was written, it has been translated into every known language. And it is as resonant today as it ever was."
Fans of the poet have set up a website in a bid to break the world record for the largest simultaneous toast, hoping that hundreds of thousands around the world will raise their glasses to "the immortal memory of Robert Burns" on Sunday evening.
More broadly, the 250th anniversary celebrations are being used by the Scottish government as a springboard for over 300 events over the course of the year to promote Scotland as a tourist destination.
The Edinburgh government is aiming to attract at least an extra 100,000 tourists to Scotland this year as a result, generating an extra 40 million pounds (41.8 million euros, 54.3 million dollars) in revenue.
Burns's face also adorns a set of postage stamps created by the Royal Mail to commemorate the 250th anniversary, with one featuring the words of one of his best-known poems, "A Man's A Man For A' That".
The poem, written in 1795, became an anthem of the slavery abolitionists. Two centuries later, it was sung at the opening of the Scottish parliament in 1999.
"Around the world, people are proud of Robert Burns," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, himself a Scot and a fan of Burns's writings.
"I think the whole world has a right to celebrate the achievement of one of the great poets of all time."
Prince Charles joined Salmond in reading poems for the Burns archive, which is aimed at ensuring that his poems are available to future generations.
Born on January 25, 1759, Burns died when he was just 37, but filled his life with bawdy romps through the picturesque hills of Ayrshire and Dumfries which provided the inspiration for much of his work.
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Image of commemorative British stamps featuring Scottish poet Robert Burns, from AFP.
