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Souling was a Christian practice carried out in many English towns on Halloween and Christmas. Souling is a Christian practice carried out during Allhallowtide and Christmastide, with origins in the medieval era. 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. 1565 was still being distributed in 1826 on All Souls day.

The announcement for collection was made by ringing church bells. 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. 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, “somas loaves” were traditionally distributed. In some counties, the Soul-mass cake was “made on All Souls’ Day, November 2nd, and always in a triangular shape”. 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.

Yorkshire, “children still appear on door steps with turnip lanterns and disguised as witches, ghosts and skeletons”. Purgation of souls by holy fire. Fires known as Tindle fires were made by children on All Souls night in Derbyshire. Halloween may also be related to earlier practices. In the English countryside, people lit bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Halloween were lit into modern times in the Celtic areas of “northern and westernmost counties of England”.

As an alternative to bonfires, in Lancashire, candles were carried between 11 pm and midnight on Halloween in a procession up the hills in a custom known as ‘lating the witches’. 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. 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. Clementing” in a similar manner to Souling. In some parts of Cheshire, during the 19th century, adults and children went Souling performing plays and carrying an Old Hob which consisted of a horse’s head enveloped in a sheet. The head would be put on a pole and sometimes, a candle would be lit inside, in which case the pole bearer would be covered in a sheet.

Further, by the 19th century, memories of begging for bread “for the sake of souls departed” had faded, “leaving only the name soul-cake”. The educational reforms of 1870 meant that children, other than very small children, went to school which was when Souling would be carried by children and this affected the extent of the practice. However, the custom persisted in “rural Cheshire, northern Shropshire and adjoining part of Staffordshire” up to the 1950s. Souling is being observed in modern times in Sheffield.