{ For Auld Lang Syne, My Dear }

Happy New Year from Lark & Lola! We wish you 365 more days of love and happiness, just like my adorable vintage postcard says.

I thought it'd be fun to share some history behind the "Auld Lang Syne" song and what that means, in case you didn't know.

Auld Lang Syne was a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in the late 1700's and was set to a traditional folk tune. The translation of 'auld lang syne' basically means "long long ago" or "old long since" and is pretty much eqivalent to us saying "Once upon a time". It's a pretty sentimental poem when you read the words to it. The word syne is pronounced in American English like the word 'sign'. It wasn't originally written to be a New Year's traditional song, but it did become a sentimental tradition to the holiday over the years. In Scotland, however, the song is usually sung at the end of a dance, when friends join hands and come together for one last song.

Here's the first verse to the song, as we Americans would sing it:

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old times since ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And if you wanted to sing it in the Scottish brogue, this can help you out:

Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an nivir brocht ti mynd?
Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an ald lang syn?

CHORUS:

Fir ald lang syn, ma deer,

fir ald lang syn,

Wil tak a cup o kyndnes yet,

fir ald lang syn.

You can read more about Auld Lang Syne here, at my beloved Wikipedia. (Yes, I'm a Wikipedia junkie.)

Happy New Year! Cheers!