Brochan Lom

Oct 10

World Porridge Day

Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day

Devil's Spit Day

The Bramble Bush

World Porridge Day

Brochan Lom

Today's Musings, History & Folklore

"🎶 Brochan lom, tana lom
Brochan tana sùghain ... "

"Porridge thin and meagre,
porridge thin from sowans."

~ Traditional

Start the day with a traditional bowl of oatmeal or porridge—served with nothing more than a pinch of salt, if you’re determined to do it in true Scots fashion. Or quietly add something sweet: berries, brown sugar, molasses, butter, jam… no one needs to know! 🤪

Brochan lom, Gaelic for a smooth, thin porridge, is a traditional Scottish way to start the day and well suited to cold mornings, hard work—and perhaps a vigorous Highland or strathspey setting step or two.

Oats have even found their way into one of the better-known bits of Anglo-Scottish wit. The English lexicographer Samuel Johnson famously defined oats as a grain which in England was generally given to horses, but in Scotland supported the people. The much-repeated Scottish retort turns the insult neatly around: “And where else will you see such horses and such men?” Over the years the exchange has acquired several versions and is often attributed to Johnson’s Scottish friend and biographer, James Boswell.

Written at a teachers’ workshop in 1970 by Iain Macfarlane and inspired by its namesake tune, this 32 bar strathspey for 3 couples in a 4 couple set, gives plenty of opportunity to enjoy that distinctive “Highland tempo" and finishes with a "stirring" rondel, to ensure your porridge is smooth.

So tonight, don't forget to prepare those steel-cut or pinhead oats for soaking so that you can start the next day's dancing feet off right! And find that spurtle! 🕺 💃 🤎 🤎 🤎 🥄 🥣

Brochan Lom

October 10th is World Porridge Day, celebrating one of the world's oldest dishes.

Oatmeal has a long history in Scottish culinary tradition because oats are better suited than wheat to the country's low temperatures and high humidity. As a result, oats became the staple grain of Scotland. The ancient universities of Scotland had a holiday called Meal Monday to permit students to return to their farms and collect more oats for food.

Samuel Johnson referred, disparagingly, to this grain in his dictionary definition for oats: "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." His biographer, James Boswell, noted that Lord Elibank was said to have retorted, "Yes, and where else will you see such horses and such men?"

Scottish porridge, brochan, is a traditional dish made from water, oats, and salt.

The well-known tune, "Brochan Lom" a Scottish Gaelic nonsense song about porridge, is popular and appears frequently at Scottish country dances and ceilidhs and falls into the category of "mouth music" (Puirt a beul), an a cappella style of music for dancing in the absence of instruments. This jocular song is bascially about some ill-made porridge, being very thin like gruel, or even thinner, like 'sowans' (the fermented juice of oatmeal husks boiled).

Here are the original words followed by the English translation:

Brochan lom, tana lom, brochan lom na sùghain

Brochan lom 's e tana lom 's e brochan lom na sùghain

Séist

Brochan tana, tana, tana, brochan lom na sùghain

Brochan lom 's e tana lom 's e brochan lom na sùghain

Thugaibh aran dha na gillean leis a' bhrochan sùghain

Brochan lom 's e tana lom 's e brochan lom na sùghain

Séist

Seo an rud a gheibheamaid o nighean gobh' an dùine,

Brochan lom 's e tana lom, 's e brochan lom sùghain.

Séist

************

Porridge thin and meagre, porridge thin from sowans.

Porridge thin, it is meagre and thin, it is porridge thin from sowans.

Chorus

Meagre and thin porridge, thin, thin, meagre porridge

Porridge thin, it is meagre and thin, it is porridge thin from sowans.

Give ye bread to the young men with sowans-gruel,

Porridge thin, it is meagre and thin, it is porridge thin from sowans.

Chorus

This is what we used to get from the smith's daughter at the Dun

Porridge thin, it is meagre and thin, it is porridge thin from sowans.

Chorus

To hear this classic tune from the album Scottish Choice by Robin Hall & Jimmy MacGregor with The Galliards (1960), click the vintage advertisement for Scott's oats, hinting at what a regular diet of oats can do for you.

Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!