A few years ago, as far as most Copenhageners were concerned, Burns Night was strictly an Ungdomshuset affair: a few cars, the outbuilding of a nursery here and there, and along selected streets in Nørrebro.
It was only among the Anglo-speaking community that this was understood a little less literally as a relatively obscure annual celebration of the 1759 birthday of the poet the Scots like to call The Bard.
Scotland's biggest icon
But while he may be no Shakespeare, Robert Burns has become his country’s biggest icon, and his special night has accordingly metamorphosed into Scotland’s second biggest drinking day, easily surpassing the feastday of the country’s patron saint in November, but still some distance behind the New Year celebration of Hogmanay.
For many years, the Dubliner on Strøget has been marking the occasion. Kilts, haggis, whiskey and standing on the tables and belting out ‘Scotland Forever’, it was another night to remember