The autumnal season of remembering continues with All Souls on 2nd November. This follows on from All Saints and is the last of the three days that make up Hallowtide, a period which was particularly marked during the Middle Ages.
In her book, ‘The Celtic Wheel of the Year’, Tess Ward writes:
‘It is as if, with the darkness, our memory, our dreaming, our shadow selves and the whole cast of our inner life, comes out to play.’
Hence the playfulness of Hallowe’en and the darker evenings encouraged the winter tradition of story-telling and singing around the hearth and fire. When entertainment couldn’t be had by means TV, cinema, social media, folk had to create it for themselves.
In order to understand the customs of Hallowtide we need to think about earlier beliefs concerning the dead. It was believed that after dying souls went to Purgatory, a kind of half-way house to either heaven or hell depending on the individual’s merits. The living could help those souls in purgatory and ensure they went to heaven by praying for them. Often this was accompanied by the ringing of bells and although this practice was banned during the Reformation it continued for many years afterwards.
In the Iron Age the dead were often buried with possessions they might need in the after-life – drinking vessels, jewellery and weapons. The remains of these can often be seen in museums and archaeological sites and provide a fascinating insight into earlier beliefs about life and death. The people of that time saw little cut-off between the living and the dead. Death was part of the ‘life-journey’; it just took place out of sight of those left behind.
One of the customs of All Souls was to light a fire on the hearth and leave food and wine for those who had died. The Irish would leave the entrances to burial mounds open so that the dead might find their way onwards. A tradition at All Souls was the baking of Soul Cakes. These were lightly spiced, round cakes and were often given out with ale. If the householder refused a prank might be played – you can see here resonances with the ‘trick- or treat-ing’ of Hallowe’en. In their book A Year of British Calendar Customs the writers Palmer and Lloyd quote an early song that was sung as groups of people went from house to house:
‘Soul, soul, for a soul cake! I pray good missis, for a soul cake! An apple or pear, a plum or a cherry, any good thing to make us merry.'
All Souls continues to be marked today. Churches will often hold services where prayers are said for those we remember. The names of those loved and lost are read aloud and often candles are lit in their memory. It can be a source of great comfort to those who mourn, whether recently or further back in the past.
