It’s trick or treat with a twist: no tricks, just the possible release of souls from their purgatory accompanied by a tasty oat-based biscuit.
English Heritage is this weekend reviving the medieval tradition of souling, in which people go from door to door, singing and saying prayers for souls in exchange for a small round treat called a soul cake, or soulmass-cake.
Visitors to 13 sites across England, from Tynemouth Priory to St Mawes Castle, can knock on the door after hours and they will receive a soul cake – while stocks last – to commemorate the dead.
The scheme is a fun way to illuminate history and may well surprise people, said Michael Carter, senior properties historian at English Heritage.
“I’m sure that many assume Halloween traditions are pure Americanisms,” he said. “Trick or treat is a kind of melding of old traditions, this idea of going door to door asking for a treat is something that was old in the 14th century.”
The origins of souling may date back to around the year 1000, with Carter citing a manuscript written by a canon at Lilleshall Abbey in Shropshire, dating from about 1400, in which it is described as an old tradition that redeems souls from the pains of purgatory.
There is also a reference in Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona – “like a beggar at Hallowmas” – and in the late 17th century a man called John Aubrey noted it was the custom in Shropshire, “and not just among the Papists”, to pile a “high heap of soule cakes set on a table and visitors would take one, with the rhyme, ‘a soule cake, a soule cake, have mercy on all Christian soules for a soule cake.’”
Quite when souling stopped happening is a matter of debate. Carter has heard stories of it taking place in parts of Sheffield until the 1990s, “although people didn’t quite understand why they were doing it. It might well still be a tradition to this day – I would be fascinated to know.”
There appears to be no direct evidence of what a soul cake tasted like, although they are thought to have been more biscuit than cake and were traditionally made using oats, possibly spiced with nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon. They may also have contained raisins or currants, which English Heritage has included in its 2023 version.
The soul cakes shine light on a tradition and history that few children understand when they go trick or treating now or, generations before that, even when they hollowed out turnips and knocked on doors asking for money generations ago.
English Heritage said Halloween is believed to have its origins in a pre-Christian festival that marked the start of winter – the time of year where people believed the boundary between the worlds of living and dead became blurred, when the souls of the dead were said to revisit homes.
In the era of Christianity, the tradition became absorbed into the celebration of All Saints’ Day when, on 1 November, saints and martyrs would be honoured, while 2 November became All Souls’ Day, a day to honour the dead, when existing traditions like bonfires and dressing up may have blurred with Christian celebrations.
Carter hopes that people will want to find out more. “I’m a firm believer that people are more likely to learn something if they are enjoying it.”
It is also appropriate that castles, palaces and abbeys are taking part. “These are the kind of places where people in the past would go and expect to be given hospitality or charity to be dispensed,” he said.
The cakes will be available at 13 sites either between 4pm and 5pm, or 5pm and 6pm, from 28 October to 31 October.
To make your own soul cake:
MAKES: 30
INGREDIENTS:
300g plain flour
2 tsp ground mixed spice
A pinch of nutmeg
150g butter, diced
150g caster sugar
75g currants
2 egg yolks (or 1 whole egg, beaten)
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp oats
½ tbsp cider vinegar
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 180C, fan 160C, gas 4. Sift the flour, spices and a pinch of salt into a mixing bowl, then add the butter and rub in with your fingers. Stir in the oats, currants and sugar.
Whisk the egg, milk and cider vinegar together until just combined, then stir into the dry ingredients. Bring together into a soft dough, and add more milk if the dough is too dry.
On a floured surface, roll out to about 5mm thick. Stamp out the soul cakes with a 6cm to 7cm round cutter, and score a cross lightly on the top. Transfer to two greased baking trays.
Bake for 15-25 minutes until pale golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
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