Soul cake

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Soul cakes

A soul cake is a small round cake that is traditionally prepared on All Saints 'Day or All Souls ' Day to honor the dead. The cakes, often simply referred to as souls , are given to supplicants, mostly children and the needy, who sing from door to door on Halloween , the day before All Saints' Day, and pray for the poor souls . Every cake eaten stands for a soul that is redeemed from purgatory . This custom is believed to be the origin of the modern "trick or treat" ("trick or treat"). In Lancashire and the north-east of Great Britain, the cakes are also known as harcakes .

history

The custom of making soul cakes was already practiced in Great Britain and Ireland in the Middle Ages ; Similar customs around the souls of the dead can be observed in the south as far as Italy. The cakes were usually filled with allspice , nutmeg , cinnamon , ginger or other sweet spices, raisins or currants , and were marked with a cross before baking. Usually they were put outside with a glass of wine on Halloween as a gift for the poor souls. On the All Saints Day and All Souls Day that followed , children went door to door symbolically begging for biscuits.

Songs

The text of a song sung was recorded in 1891 by Reverend MP Holme of Tattenhall, of Cheshire . Two years later, folklorist Lucy Broadwood wrote down the text and melody with the comment that the custom was practiced in Cheshire and Shropshire . Other variations of the traditional soul cake song were collected in various parts of England up until the 1950s. Later versions may have been influenced by folk revival interpretations of the song by groups like The Watersons . In 1963 the American folk group Peter, Paul and Mary recorded a version of the song called “A 'Soalin”.

The song from 1891:
A soul! a soul! a soul cake!
Please good Missis, a soul cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul
Three for Him who made us all.

Song of the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary , 1963:
Soul, soul, a soul cake!
I pray thee, good missus, a soul cake!
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for Him what made us all!
Soul cake, soul cake, please good missus, a soul cake.
An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry, any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul, and three for Him who made us all.

When the American composer of Halloween songs Kristen Lawrence was looking for melodies for her 2009 album A Broom With A View , she found two historical melodies related to soul cakes . On hearing the traditional Cheshire melody, she realized that the opening notes were the same as the Dies Irae sequence from the funeral mass . It seemed plausible that the Cheshire tune was a popular alienation of the chant used by children and beggars to ask for cake in return for praying for the deceased.

The song Soul Cake by British musician Sting on his 2009 album If on a Winter's Night… seems to be an adaptation of the version by Peter, Paul and Mary , which, far from historical accuracy, refers to Christmas instead of All Souls 'Day and All Saints' Day.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frederick J. Simoons: Plants of Life, Plants of Death . University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. ISBN 0-299-15904-3
  2. ^ Peter Ditchfield: Old English Customs Extant at the Present Time . 1896, pp. 165-166
  3. ↑ Nicholas Rogers: Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night . Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 28-30, ISBN 0-19-514691-3
  4. ↑ Krystina Castella: A World of Cakes: 150 Receipes for Sweet Traditions from Cultures Near and Far . Storey Publishing, 2010, p. 76, ISBN 978-1-60342-576-6
  5. ^ Joanna Bogle: A Book of Feasts and Seasons . Gracewing Publishing, 1993, p. 193, ISBN 0-85244-217-3
  6. ↑ Steve Roud: The English Year . Penguin UK, 2008
  7. ^ E. David Gregory: The Late Victorian Folklore Revival . Scarecrow Press, 2010, p. 315, ISBN 978-0-8108-6988-2
  8. ↑ Lucy Broadwood: English County Songs: Words and Music . Leadenhall Press, 1893, p. 185
  9. ↑ Ralph Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, English Folk Dance and Song Society: Roud Folksong Index entry on "Souling Song (Roud 304) ( Memento of the original from June 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / library.efdss.org
  10. ^ Kristen Lawrence: Hallowe'en Carols - Music for the Autumnal Season . 2009. In A Broom With A View [CD Booklet]. Santa Ana, Vörswell Music

Web links