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Today is one of the stand out celebrations in the Scottish calendar, for today is Burns Night. The annual festival celebrates the life and poetry of Scottish national poet Robert Burns (above), who was born on this very day (January 25th) in 1759. In typically Scottish style, the celebrations are a brilliant mix of solemn traditions and raucous fun.

Traditions and Celebrations

Burns Night is all about celebrating everything that is Scottish, and centres around a supper held in the evening. Many people will dress in traditional Scottish clothes for the evening, which often means donning a tartan kilt. However, the most important aspect of any Burns Night supper, has to be the haggis. Haggis is the most quintessential of all Scottish foods, and if you haven't tried or even seen one before, you may not like the sound of what it is made from. Sheep's heart, liver and lungs are minced with onion, oatmeal, suet (beef fat), and spices and then boiled in a sheep's stomach for 3 hours. Sounds nice eh?

Parts of Scotland and Northern England have enjoyed stunning displays of the Northern Lights over the last few nights. Unusually strong solar storms have caused the aurora borealis to be seen far further south than normal, allowing people to enjoy their best appearance in more than a decade.

Although the Northern Lights are most usually associated with the Arctic Circle, they can be seen fairly regularly in northern parts of Scotland. However, it is very rare that they ever reach as far south as England, and locals are taking full advantage of the beautiful sight. For the last two nights English counties as far south as Yorkshire have been enraptured by the lights, and can expect one final hurrah tonight. Indeed, Robin Scagell from the Society for Popular Astronomy, said:

"It looks like we could be treated to another cosmic light show and so it is well worth watching the northern part of the heavens."

Experts are also predicting that parts of America may also enjoy the spectacle, with Washington expected to be able to see it on Tuesday night. Get an idea of the Lights' beauty in the video below which shows the sky over a single night in Norway:

Over the last six months there have been several incidents that from the outside could suggest international students are no longer welcome in the UK. First there was the Malaysian student Ashraf Haziq who was the victim of one of the most shocking videos to come out of the London riots (pictured above).

More recently there was the tragic murder of Indian student Anuj Bivde in Manchester on Boxing Day. Similarly, though clearly on a lesser scale, there was the symptomatic story that came out of Plymouth last week of shop keepers banning foreign students from entering in groups.

On top of this, there is currently the perceived notion that the British government is trying to make it harder for international students to gain entry to the UK with the introduction of harsher visa laws. This and the recent incidents together make it easy to assume that there is a growing trend in Britain against international students.

As part of Foreign Fridays, we explore a different country each week through its most unusual, amusing and odd facts. If you want your country to appear, then simply get in contact with us either in the comments below or through Facebook or Twitter.

This week it is the turn of China:

On the first day of Chinese New Year, many people, particularly
Buddhists, abstain from eating meat as they believe
that it will ensure they enjoy a long life.

We have reached the final New Year related Foreign Fridays Fact, in what has been a busy January, full of celebrations. And this week we have possibly the most famous of them all- Chinese New Year. 

In China the New Year's celebrations last for 15 days, with New Year's Day counting as day 1. During this time most people take time off work to be with family and friends, and many travel back to their home town or village. Trains, buses, roads, and planes all become packed out with people travelling across the country.

If you are using Wikipedia in an English speaking country, then you may have noticed today that you cannot access any of the information. Instead of the normal pages of life-saving information, you will be met by a black screen, similar to the one above. This is because, for the first time ever, Wikipedia is protesting against two new laws that have been proposed in the United States.

SOPA (which stands for the ‘Stop Online Piracy Act'), and PIPA (‘Protect Intellectual Property Act') are two bills that aim to stop copyright infringement by websites outside of the US. However, many people, the Wikipedia community included, believe that these laws will harm free expression and freedom on the internet. In Wikipedia's own words:

"We are concerned that SOPA and PIPA will severely inhibit people's access to online information...These bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet."

It is not the idea of stamping down on online copyright infringement that Wikipedia disagrees with, but the "badly drafted legislation" which will not only be ineffective against it's main aim, but will actually harm the internet as we know it.