As the harvest season ended and the days became shorter, the Celts celebrated Samhain, when the souls of the dead returned to the world of the living. Bonfires were lit to ward off evil; offerings were made to the restive spirits.
Samhain begat All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day—and, eventually,Halloween—and among the customs that attached to the celebration in England in the Middle Ages was the making of soul cakes—small, scone-like things given to beggars, or "soulers," who went door to door singing and saying prayers for the dead. The history of the custom is murky, but if this sounds like a familiar exchange—the door-to-door supplicant, the sweet treat—that may be no coincidence.Soul cakes might be history's first trick-or-treating loot.
There was a song, too, that the soulers sang, its lyrics requesting sustenance while imparting a blessing:
An apple, a pear, a plum, a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry,
One for Peter, two for Paul
Three for Him who made us all
And hey, speaking of Peter and Paul: the popular folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary came up with their own adaptation of the soul-cakes song, which they called "A Soalin.'" It was included on the group's 1988 albumA Holiday Celebration,虽然他们一直玩它a while. Here they are in France in 1965, their fingerpicking deft, their harmonies a perfect complement to the spooky mournfulness of the song:
A variation of the soul-cakes tradition continues in Portugal, where children go door to door on All Saints' Day and ask for the"bread of God"(or, as the tradition wanes, simply candy or chocolate).
The soul cakes baked in medieval England have been described as resembling abiscuitor a scone; they were typically round and decorated with a cross of currants or raisins, and sometimes included a spice or two. They may have been a bit on the dry side, but yours don't have to be—feel free to test out your scone hand withthe more evolved recipebelow. Currant scones probably won't be a hit with trick-or-treaters, but that just means more for you.
