Hallowmas traditions in Shropshire
As the dying embers of summer faded and the wheel of the
year turned, the minds of Shropshire folk would become more reflective and in turn,
focus on more solemn concerns. This is
particularly apparent when looking at the traditions associated with as Hallowmas
or Hallowtide. This term includes the dates of 31st of October,
1st of November and 2nd of November, which mark ‘All
Saints Eve, All Saints Day, and finally All Souls Day’. This term originates
from the Middle English Alholowmesse, which means All Saints Day, but
has come to signify both November dates.
Important and universal throughout western Christendom, I will first
highlight the religious significance of these dates, before we delve deeper,
and discuss their folkloric importance, and how this tradition had been
interpreted in Shropshire.
All Saints Day is also known as ‘the feast of all saints,
or the ‘solemnity of all saints’ which was celebrated throughout western
Christendom. The focus of the day was to honour all the saints of the church,
whether known or unknown. It implores participants to recall the lives and
sacrifices of saints, even the ones who may be more obscure, or whose names are
lost to the ravages of time. This celebration has its origins in the 9th
century when the British Isles began to commemorate the saints on the 1st
of November. Later in the century Pope Gregory IV extended this celebration,
and All Saints Day spread to the whole of Christianity. Even after the
Reformation and the splitting of the church, celebrations, and customs were
still practiced on this date, and All Saints Day began to gain folkloric
importance.
A similar thing can be said about All Soul’s Day, in the
sense that the tradition persevered long after the religious significance was
accessible or indeed relevant to many. All Soul’s Day was also known as ‘The
commemoration of all the faithful departed’, and was a day of
prayer, reflection, and remembrance for ancestors, and all those who are
departed. Traditionally the date involved individual personal prayer, as well
as intercessions for the poor souls in purgatory and visits to cemeteries. The
veil between the living and the deceased is vague and thin, and the dead are
never far from people’s minds. During
the 10th century, the standardization of religious observance brought
about by St Odilo of Cluny ensured that the 2nd of November became
synonymous with reverence of the dead.
The importance of these dates can be found throughout
folklore, but for the remainder of this article I want to discuss their
significance in Shropshire, and how Shropshire folk came to interpret them. Often
the practices of Alholowmesse are mistakenly lumped into Halloween, or
portrayed as Halloween traditions, but in Shropshire all three of the days hold
importance, with only a few customs associated with the 31st of
October. Let us explore some of the Alholowmesse traditions in detail now, and
in turn gain greater understanding of the role they played in everyday life.
It would be appropriate to begin our discussion on All
Saints Eve, or what we would now call Halloween. All Saint’s Eve was known to
be a particularly potent night for divination, especially Love divination.
Charlotte Burne recounts that young women could peer beyond the veil and witness
a future darling in a plethora of ways, from the mundane to the bizarre, such
as the following method, which by all accounts is rather weird. In many parts
of Shropshire, young women, eager to know of their future spouse were implored
to go to the churchyard at midnight and search for half a brick in the
darkness. Upon finding it, women must return to their bedroom and sleep with the
brick under the pillow. This would allow them to dream of their future
marriage.
One of the most
popular practices took place exclusively on All Soul’s Eve. This involved a
hairbrush, a mirror or reflective surface and an apple. The eager maiden would
stand in front of the mirror, and let her hair fall loose. Brushing her hair
with one hand, she would eat an apple with the other, all the while gazing at
her reflection. Soon enough, in the mirror’s silver surface, she would gaze
upon the face of the man she would come to wed. Caution must be exercised here,
for as soon as you lock eyes with your future partner, you must turn your head
and look over your left shoulder, to avoid harm befalling that person. There is
something very sensual, and almost biblical here, with the consumption of the
apple almost invoking Eve’s temptation. I find love divination in general fascinating,
The idea of eager young women (and in some cases men) trying to
influence the path of true love through offerings and witchcraft gives us a
unique insight into the attitudes and beliefs of our ancestors.
Another great example of All Saints Eve love divination Is the
practice of ‘Plucking the sage tree’. On All Saints Eve, young
Shropshire women would enter their gardens just before midnight, with love on
the mind. Shropshire gardens were far from ornamental, and often grew herbs and
vegetables, serving a practical purpose. Thus, often sage would grow in
abundance. Having entered the garden, under the light of the moon they would
pluck nine sage leaves, as the clock struck midnight. The belief was that after
she had plucked her nine sage leaves, she would have a form of vision. If she
was to be wed, she would see the face of her future husband, and in a rather macabre
twist, if she was to remain single, she would see a coffin. I love the
juxtaposition between the secrecy of these acts, often taking place at midnight
and the commonality, with many women choosing to dabble, and witness a future
spouse. Humans are curious beings, and love divination emphasizes our natural
curiosity.
The church of Chirbury finds itself at the centre of an intriguing
story, which also demonstrates a much darker form of All Saint’s Eve divination,
that of the death omen. Indeed, folklore suggests that if you visit Chirbury
churchyard on All Saints Eve, you can gain the knowledge of who is soon to die,
if you enact a particular ritual. This ritual involves walking around the
building twelve times (anti clockwise of course) and then sit on the
church steps, waiting until midnight. Once the church bell chimes for midnight,
you will be rewarded for your efforts with a roll call of all those souls who
will die before the following All Saints Eve.
It was on this day in 1788, two men decided to try out this custom. Indeed,
after spending some time in their local alehouse they descended on Chirbury
Churchyard, eager to acquire such forbidden knowledge. They planned to make a note of the names of
the future dead, and then run up a series of debts with the people, knowing they
would never need to pay the money back. Brilliant! In a drunken stupor they
made up their mind and completed the ritual. Sure enough, after midnight they
began to hear a raspy voice read out a list of names, which went on for some
time. Suddenly, their blood ran cold, panic made their heart pound in their
chest.
Of all the names they heard, one put fear into their hearts,
for it was the name of the one man’s brother, and best friend of the other.
They ran from the churchyard to his house and banged firmly on his door. After
three knocks, he came down, bleary eyed from having been woken. The drunken men
explained everything and told him that they’d heard his name. As one can
imagine, he was far from happy, and told them he had no intension of dying, casting
them away from his home, telling them to sober up.
A week later, he was dead. The men never visited the
churchyard again, and never spoke of their experience. I find this folk tale a
wonderful addition to the discourse surrounding death omens in Shropshire, as
it gives us a tantalising glimpse of possibility, to peer beyond the veil and
understand Death’s work, but implores us to use such a power responsibly.
All Saint’s Day could be described as the most significant
of Hallowtide celebrations in Shropshire. The first of November in much of
Shropshire was known as ‘Souling Day’ due to the custom practiced associated
with this date. It’s worthy of note that the practice I am about to discuss has
also taken place on the 2nd of November in some areas of Shropshire,
and the significance of the individual days has in some places merged into one
important event. The custom of ‘Souling’ was once popular in Shropshire
and saw children (and in some cases adults too) taking to the street and
going ‘a Souling’ around the neighbourhood. This involved travelling
from house to house, often to the well-heeled parts of the neighbourhood and reciting
songs or ditties in return for a reward. This reward depended on what part of
Shropshire you were in, but usually involved either soul cakes, ale, apples or
even money.
The soul cakes themselves were particularly popular, and
Charlotte Burne recounts that some of the more liberal housewives would revel
in this celebration, dedicating whole days to baking. They would then eagerly
hand out the fruits of their labour, providing the children with baskets full
of cakes. In a rather lovely twist, Charlotte Burne provides the names of a few
women who continued the practice, such as Mrs. Mary Ward, who was the last
known woman in Pulverbatch to bake soul cakes. She died in 1853 at 100 years
old. The late Mrs. Gill of Hopton, near Hodnet was proud of her soul cake
recipe, and provided an abundance of them to the children of the area until her
death in 1884. Remnants of this practice continued after this date; before it
went into decline. For example, in 1909 the Rev E. A. Godson of Clive published
the words he’d heard children singing as they went souling door to door,
preserving the local tradition. Phyllis Crawford wrote that by 1938 the souling
cake tradition had died out in Wem, and the surrounding parishes but this
didn’t stop children from knocking on doors, crying ‘please, I’ve come a
souling’. In the villages near Oswestry, the practice was still continued
during the 1930s, but apples, nuts and sweets were given rather than the
traditional soul cakes. For the
children, especially those from more difficult economic backgrounds, it must
have been an exciting time, and one can see parallels with more modern trick or
treating traditions.
The soul cakes were often simple things, and the recipe
varied from person to person. They were usually flat, round, or oval and in
many ways more like buns than cakes which were made of a light dough. They
would be made from the sorts of ingredients found within a kitchen pantry, and
nothing would be bought especially for their creation. After the dough was
made, the mixture would be spiced and seasoned, and in the later period, items
such as raisins may be added. They often were decorated with a simple cross
through the top of the cake, which had religious significance and signified
that they were a form of alms, given to the poor. It also was a sign of
protection. The origins of this practice in Shropshire are not clear, though as
a whole it dates to the medieval period. There is evidence that the tradition
in Shropshire is from at least the 17th century, when John Aubrey
wrote that-
‘In Salop, on All
Soul’s Day there is set upon a board a heap of soule cakes lying upon each
other like the picture of the sew bread in the old bibles. They are about the
bigness of 2d cakes and nearly all visitants that day take one, and there is an
old rhyme or saying said’.
In Aubrey’s account it depicts a longstanding practice,
almost as if it is an expectation in a lot of areas so I wouldn’t be surprised
if Shropshire folk had participated in ‘Souling’ since the medieval period.
We will now turn to the rhyme mentioned by Aubrey, and other
accounts of the practice. After children had knocked on the door and got the
attention of their neighbour’s, they would recite or sing a rhyme to announce
their purpose. There are several folkloric traditions throughout England that
follow a similar format, including some Christmas traditions. In Shropshire, there was no standardized
rhyme one must recite when you went ‘a Souling’ rather it differed regionally,
often village to village. In Oswestry for example, the ‘Souling’ rhyme included
some lines of Welsh, perhaps representing the interplay between the two areas
which existed all along the border.
John Aubrey states that a common form of the rhyme takes
very religious tone, which is as follows,
‘A soule cake, a soule cake
Have mercy on all Christian Soules
For a soule cake’
Here we are given more insight into the Christian origins of the custom,
with the motif of mercy and forgiveness of the mortal soul playing a prominent
part of the rhyme. However, as I have mentioned this is not the only form found
in Shropshire. If we return to Rev E.A. Godson of Clive, he recorded that local
children repeated the following rhyme-
‘Soul, Soul for an apple or two
Got no apples, pears will do.
Up with the kettle and down with the pan,
Give me an apple and I’ll be gone.
One for peter, two for Paul,
Three for him that made us all.
Apple or pear, plum or cherry
Any good thing for to make us merry.
Merry I am and merry I be,
Please give an apple away to me.’
Charlotte Burne provides a number of alternatives,
including rhymes from areas such as Edgmond, Welshampton, Wellington and
Pulverbatch. She also shares an example of what could be the ‘purest’ example
of the ‘Souling’ rhyme in Shropshire, which comes from Market Drayton. This Is
perhaps the closest to the original form and therefore the oldest version in
existence in the county. The rhyme reads as follows,
‘Soul, Soul for a soul cake,
I pray, good missus, a soul cake.
An Apple or pear, a plum or cherry
Any good thing to make us merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for him who made us all,
Up with the kettle and down with the pan
Give us good alms and we will be gone.’
Though this is quite a cheerful ditty, it is worthy of
mentioning that the whole practice is sadly linked to entrenched rural poverty.
It sees children begging for alms in the wealthier areas of a village and
hoping to gain charity. It provides us with a poignant insight into the
difficulties our ancestors faced. It provides a little comfort in knowing that
it was a popular practice, and that the community provided. There are other
examples of ritualized begging for alms in Shropshire, such as at Christmas which
was seen as a time of ‘sharing the fruits of the earth with the poor’.
During the festive period every farmer in the area would set aside a sack of
wheat for the poor, and all the cottagers’ wives would go from house to house
to collect their share of the ‘dole’, according to their family size and
poverty. The women would don the oldest clothes they owned, and often opted to
wear their husbands cast off smocks or coats. There were also such practices
associated with Whitsuntide and many other dates in the Calendar.
Thus, I think it is important as both a folklorist and a historian to emphasize
that we should never look at the history of rural areas with rose tinted
glasses. It was not a quaint, simple time, but one fraught with difficulties, danger,
and challenges. Many people who partook in customs such as Souling would have
been entrenched in poverty, including my own relatives. Thus, they served both
a celebration but also a practical purpose, to ensure that food was eaten, and
individuals had the means of supporting themselves.
I want to briefly look at the customs associated with the 2nd of
November, All Soul’s Day. As I have previously mentioned it seems like the
‘Souling’ custom took place on either day, or sometimes on both, so this would
have played a key role in marking the date. All Soul’s Day was seen as a time of
reflection, and commemoration of the dead, through prayers and often visits to
cemeteries. In some areas of Shropshire, you would see the practice of
decorating graves with an abundance of flowers taking place on All Soul’s Day,
though this was generally more prominent on Palm Sunday. I think the consensus
is that the dead wouldn’t be far from people’s minds at this time, and it would
probably have been more of a solemn, contemplative affair. Perhaps individuals had
their own ways of commemorating the dead, through candles or stories or who
they’d been in life.
What is known is that all three of these days held
meaning to Shropshire folk. The folk customs associated with this time of year
represent charity, community, and a stalwart spirit in the face of
adversity. Isn’t it rather lovely? I
find it comforting to think of Mrs. Mary Ward and Mrs. Gill of Hopton, in their
kitchens baking away in separate parts of Shropshire. What did this practice
mean to them? What feeling grew when they saw happy-faced children making off
with the fruits of their labour. These women were insistent on the custom
remaining, even after other remnants of it had faded, and I think we can learn
from this. What can we do to help others, in the darkest months of the year?
Perhaps we can take a little of Shropshire folklore with us, to support others as
the wheel of the year turns.
Fabulous. Love this County @gorgeguides
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