2nd November

All Souls’ Day/ Souling Day

The Halton Souling Play. Source: earlofstamford.org.uk

Today is All Souls’ Day, or Souling Day. Keeping with barely concealed Samhain roots, this feast day was traditionally when prayers were offered to the more venal deceased who were confined to Purgatory according to Roman Catholic tradition, a halfway house for those not virtuous enough to enter Heaven after death or wicked enough to thrown immediately into Hell - probably a rather crowded place. The holy day was marked by the baking of soul cakes ready to give out to alms-seeking souling-song singers. Originally the cakes were to pay the singers to pray for the family dead because it was believed that the more prayers said for a loved one in Purgatory, the higher the likelihood of their progress to Paradise. The Reformation abandoned belief in Purgatory, but unsurprisingly the souling-song singers continued to fetch up every 1st and 2nd November, seeking cake and ale, but this time without the obligation of saying any prayers, particularly in the north west of England.

In addition, Soul Plays were performed, autumn versions of the mummers’ plays, and they have been revived in Antrobus in Cheshire. The play’s main character is Dick Tatton, the Wild Horse of Antrobus, a three-legged animal: two of his legs are human and the third is a pole surmounted by a real horse’s skull. The play is at least 400 years old, but the fact Dick is described as a ‘dead horse’ likely links it to the darker horse cult rituals of pagan times. The play revival has expanded to other Cheshire towns and villages such as Cumberbach, Warburton and Halton.