Ozmacca, while I understand some of your criticism, I must point out that most poetry from other lands does not require the proper dialect to have some sense of it. Indeed, with the possible exception of some high church Episcopalians, most Americans can give neither the proper inflection nor pronuciation of Shakespeare.

As for the cult aspect, the true reflection of the investment of the individual in Burns is more than the costume. Again, until you attend a well done Scottish Country Dance, you cannot understand the poetry of the dance, much less the commitment to honor the ancestors. I do not dance, but play both Irish, Old Time and some Scottish. Yet a well-danced Strathspey says it all to me, in any case.