Soul cake
A soul cake, also known as a soulmass-cake, is a small round cake with sweet spices, which resembles a shortbread biscuit. It is traditionally made for Halloween, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day to commemorate the dead in many Christian traditions. The cakes, often simply referred to as souls, are given out to soulers who go from door to door during the days of Allhallowtide, singing and saying prayers "for the souls of the givers and their friends", especially the souls of deceased relatives, thought to be in the intermediate state between Earth and Heaven. In England, the practice dates to the medieval period, and it continued there until the 1930s by both Protestant and Catholic Christians. In Sheffield and Cheshire, the custom has continued into modern times. In Lancashire and in the North-east of England, soul cakes were known as Harcakes, a kind of thin parkin.
The practice of giving and eating soul cakes continues in some countries today, such as Portugal, as well as the Philippines. In other countries, souling is seen as the origin of the practice of trick-or-treating. In the United States, some churches, during Allhallowtide, have invited people to come receive sweets from them and have offered to "pray for the souls of their friends, relatives or even pets" as they do so. Among Catholics and Lutherans, some parishioners have their soul cakes blessed by a priest before being distributed; in exchange, the children promise to pray for the souls of the deceased relatives of the giver during the month of November, which is a month dedicated especially to praying for the Holy Souls. Any leftover soul cakes are shared among the distributing family or given to the poor.
History
The tradition of giving soul cakes was celebrated in Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy.The cakes are usually filled with allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger or other sweet spices, raisins or currants, and before baking are topped with the mark of a cross to signify that these were alms. Either on All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day or All Souls' Day, children would go "souling", or ritually begging for cakes door to door.
Souling
Souling is a Christian practice carried out during Allhallowtide and Christmastide, with origins in the medieval era. The custom was popular in England and is still practised to a minor extent in Sheffield and parts of Cheshire during Allhallowtide. The custom was also popular in Wales and has counterparts in Portugal and the Philippines that are practiced to this day.According to Morton, souling was once performed throughout the British Isles and the earliest activity was reported in 1511, and Shakespeare mentioned "pulling like a beggar at Hallowmas" in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. However, by the end of the 19th century, the extent of the practice during Allhallowtide was limited to parts of England and Wales.
England
Souling is an English festival. According to Gregory, souling involved a group of people visiting local farms and cottages. The merrymakers would sing a "traditional request for apples, ale, and soul cakes." The songs were traditionally known as souler's songs and were sung in a lamenting tone during the 1800s. Sometimes adult soulers would use a musical instrument, such as a concertina. In 1899, a version was sung by boys in Harrogate, Yorkshire, who were "running beside carriage, begging".Rogers believes souling was traditionally practised in the North and West of England, in the counties of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, the Peak District area of Derbyshire, Somerset and Herefordshire. Palmer states that souling took place on All Saints day in Warwickshire. However, Hutton believes souling took place in Hertfordshire.
The custom of souling ceased relatively early in Warwickshire but the dole instituted by John Collet in Solihull in 1565 was still being distributed in 1826 on All Souls day. The announcement for collection was made by ringing church bells. Further, soul-cakes were still made in Warwickshire even though no one visited for them.
According to Brown souling was performed in Birmingham and parts of the West Midlands; and according to Raven the tradition was also kept in parts of the Black Country. The prevalence of souling was so localised in some parts of Staffordshire that it was observed in Penn but not in Bilston, both localities now in modern Wolverhampton. In Staffordshire, the "custom of souling was kept on All Saints' Eve".
Similarly in Shropshire, during the late 19th century, "there was set upon the board at All Hallows Eve a high heap of Soul-cakes" for visitors to take. The songs sung by people in Oswestry, which borders Wales, contained some Welsh.
Traditions
The customs associated with souling during Allhallowtide include or included consuming and/or distributing soul cakes, singing, carrying lanterns, dressing in disguise, bonfires, playing divination games, carrying a horse's head and performing plays.Cakes
Soul cakes formed a key part of the souling traditions. In Staffordshire, the cakes were also called Soul-mass or somas cakes. In East Yorkshire, saumas loaves were traditionally distributed, and a recipient was to keep one cake in their home throughout the following year for good luck. In some counties, the Soul-mass cake was "made on All Souls' Day, November 2nd, and always in a triangular shape". Soul-mass cakes were often kept for good luck with one lady in Whitby being reported in the 1860s having a soul-mass loaf one hundred years old. According to Atkinson, soul-mass loaves "were sets of square farthing cakes with currants in the centre, commonly given by bakers to their customers". Sometimes, oat cakes were given in Lancashire and Herefordshire. In Warwickshire, during the 1840s, it was traditional to consume seed cakes during Halloween which coincided with "the end of the wheat seed-time".Lanterns and disguise
The traditions associated with souling included soulers visiting houses with "hollowed-out turnip lanterns" with a candle inside which represented a soul trapped in purgatory. Smith notes that in parts of Yorkshire, "children still appear on door steps with turnip lanterns and disguised as witches, ghosts and skeletons". In Northern England, people sometimes went souling in disguise wearing long black cloaks. At times, children went out souling in disguise. According to the Folk-lore Society publication of 1940, children went souling in costume. Such masquerading in costume was either a tribute to saints or imitated spirits.Bonfires and candles
Bonfires were also lit on Halloween and during Hallowtide which Roud suggests may be related to the purgation of souls by holy fire. Fires known as Tindle fires were made by children on All Souls' night in Derbyshire. In Lancashire, bonfires were lit on Halloween which were known as Teanlay fires which were lit on many hills to observe the fast of All Souls and the night was called Teanlay Night.According to Hardwick, the burning of fires on Halloween may also be related to earlier practices. In the English countryside, people lit bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Glassie believes that fires on Halloween were lit into modern times in the Celtic areas of "northern and westernmost counties of England". During the 1850s, in Carleton, Lancashire, fires were lit to "defend the corn from darnel".
As an alternative to bonfires, in Lancashire, candles were carried between 11:00 p.m. and midnight on Halloween in a procession up the hills in a custom known as 'lating the witches'. If the candles continuously burnt then the witches' powers would not affect the candle holder as "it was firmly believed in Lancashire that the witches assembled on this night at their general rendezvous in the Forest of Pendle" which relates to the 17th century Pendle witches. East of Pendle, candles were lit in every window an hour before midnight; if the candle burnt out before midnight, it was believed evil would follow. According to Frazer at Longridge Fell, during the early part of the 19th century, "parties went from house to house in the evening collecting candles, one for each inmate, and offering their services to late or leet the witches". Hampson notes that the words lating and leeting are derived from the Saxon word leoht, meaning "light."
Divination games
Glassie suggests that long after 1 November was dedicated to All Saints' Day, a Christian festival, people still continued to practice older pagan beliefs, such as playing divination games on All Saints' evening. The Chambers's Encyclopædia states that on Halloween in England, "it was long customary to crack nuts, duck for apples in a tub of water, and perform other harmless fireside revelries". According to Green, "in some parts of England, the Souling Customs have nuts connected with them, and All Souls' Eve is then named, Nut-crack Night". Such games were also played on Halloween leading to Halloween being known as nut-crack night in the north of England.Another game involved the use of apples, and in some parts of England, Halloween was known as Snap-Apple Night. In Staffordshire, one form of the game involved suspending a string from the ceiling and attaching an apple at the end. The apple was then swung in a pendulum motion. The players would need to bite the apple with their hands behind their backs. At Knowle near Solihull, the winner of a game of apple bobbing peeled the apple and "threw the parings over her shoulder. The shape of the peel on the ground could indicate the initials of a future spouse". Apple bobbing is still played on Halloween. According to Green, "apples turn up in Hallowe'en games as an indication of immortality for you are trying to seize the magic fruit from under water, or from a string hung from the ceiling, as if you were snatching a fragment of life from the darkness".
Playing divination games with apples was also popular on other days dedicated to saints, such as St Clement's Day on 23 November, which was known as Bite-Apple night, in places such as Wednesbury and Bilston when people went Clementing in a similar manner to souling. The Clementing custom was also observed in Aston, Sutton Coldfield, Curdworth, Minworth and Kingsbury. During the 19th century, St. Clement was a popular saint in West Bromwich and during the 1850s, children and others in neighbouring Oldbury also begged for apples on St. Clement's day and money on St. Thomas's day, which takes place on 21 December. In Walsall, apples and nuts were provided by the local council on St. Clement's day.