From Asclepius to Soul Cakes
Via Seasonal Contemplation, Everything Soup, Garlic, Souling Beer & Other Posset
So tomorrow is November 2nd and All Soul’s Day. Like the days after any celebration, no matter how quiet, it’s a time for contemplation. I find November is always like that. It may be the greyness & coldness of the weather and the subsequent retreating further out of the world and huddling down in cosy home space. It may also be because it’s the time to get things ready before the next big celebration, the quiet days when you can concentrate on what is present and what is missing in your life and whether you wish to remedy either of these things.
Its a time when I truly wish I had a real fire or at the very least a wood burner so I had a good focus for my eyes whilst my thoughts dwell on these between times. I suppose the fake one on the television will have to do, perhaps with some real life candles. Sometimes I spend time in contemplation with a hot drink, others with a seasonal bourbon, blackberry and apple cocktail with smoked ice. It’s not surprising really that my contemplation has different results with a touch of booze. Different but not necessarily better.
Although the weather round here has been unseasonably mild, my cooking brain refuses to admit it and wants warming, comforting meals. I suppose that also might be a result of all the contemplation. The house seems to constantly smell of either garlic or long cooking onions or both and I love it. I also seem to be perpetually turning leftovers into soup, and my fridge/freezer is currently host to cauliflower cheese soup, roasted mushroom, garlic and lemon (which is an incredibly dark grey in colour), lentil & pancetta soup and pumpkin soup. I really fancy proper French onion soup with the big cheesey croutons so there will probably be some of that soon.
As well as the unseasonal warmth we appear to be getting our fair share of rain and I thought you might enjoy this very short story about the possible origins of all the garlic which is currently seasoning my house.
The Ancient Greeks believed garlic was one of the key ingredients in achieving immortality: Asclepius, son of the god Apollo, learned everything about healing herbs. He became so skilled that he was even able to raise the dead, which made Hades, God of the Underworld a little on the grumpy side. Hades complained to Zeus, who was also miffed with this disruption in the natural order of things, so Zeus killed Asclepius with a his trademark thunderbolt while he was in the middle of writing down the formula for immortality.
Zeus then sent down pouring rain to destroy the paper that Asclepius was writing on. The paper melted into the earth, and when the sun came out, a plant sprang up where the formula had been. I think you can guess what that plant was. Its also another a good reason, should you need one, why it is important to avoid annoying a god of weather.
There is so much folklore around Halloween that people often forget the now nearly extinct customs attached to All Souls Day. This was the day on which the poor could often earn a little money or some refreshment in exchange for praying for someone else soul. The tradition for praying for another’s soul was meant to disappear under the the Reformation and mostly did but the tradition of a gift of food for the poor remained long after that part of the tradition died, usually in exchange for a song or other piece of entertainment.
The soul cake or soul mass loaf was fairly traditional and people went house to house singing rhymes. In pre reformation times this was mostly adults and the the rhymes clearly indicate this was an exchange of food for blessings:
Pray, good people, give us a cake:
For we are all poor people, well known to you before,
So give us a cake, for charity's sake,
And a blessing we'll leave at your door!”
"Here we be a-standing round about your door,
We be come a-souling, an' we bin very poor !"
"Remember the departed, for holy Mary's sake,
And of your charity, pray gi' we a big soul-cake!”
In the post reformation times this dwindled down to mostly children and the rhymes changed:
" Soul, soul, for a soul cake!
Pray, good missis, a soul cake !"
" Peter stands at yonder gate
Waiting for a soul cake!”
"Soul, soul, for an apple or two,
If you've got no apples, pears'll do !
One for Peter, two for Paul,
And three for Him that made us all!
An apple, pear, plum, or cherry,
Any good thing to make us merry!
Up with the kettle and down with the pan!
Give us a good big 'un and we'll be gone.
Soul day, Soul!”
As you can see from the final one, even the cake seems to have disappeared to be replaced with fruit. However the apple would once have been used for divination at this period. It was also the main ingredient for lambswool, the bowl of hot spiced ale with floating apples which was once served alongside the soul cakes.
In fact although many people remember the soul cakes, most forget that beer was also often part of the bargain but there were souling songs for men sung on this day which show that the cake was sometimes secondary in people’s minds as this Shropshire one demonstrates:
" Here's two or three hearty lads standing hard by,
We are come a-souling, good nature to try,
We are come a-souling, as well doth appear,
And all that we soul for is ale and strong beer.
Go down into your cellar and there you shall find
Both ale, beer, and brandy, and the best of all wine;
And when we have got it, O then you shall see,
And when we have drunk it, how merry we'll be !
I pray, my good missis, don't tarry to spin,
Look for a jug to draw some drink in,
And when you are drawing, don't let your heart fail,
But draw us one jug of your bonny brown ale !"
I don’t usually manage to link up my folklore with my vintage remedy but I have managed this time with a Posset I know we wouldn’t consider this exactly healthy now but once upon a time it was the bee’s knees in health cures. This from Robert May’s Accomplish’d Cook from 1660
As I’ve connected the souling beer to a remedy I thought it was only fair to have our vintage recipe be for soul cakes. Its not super helpful in terms of amounts and there are many modern versions you could use but I like this from Elinor Fettiplace’s 17th Century Receipt Book although the modern ones contain a lot less sherry if any.
With that, Gentle Reader, I must bring this letter to a close. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch via the comments or via any of my social media profiles/my website . If you have enjoyed this and would like to read further such nonsense and have not yet subscribed, please don’t hesitate to subscribe for free at the button below. You’d be very welcome and it would be a joy to write to you.
It’s been so warm and sunny where I live, so I’m not feeling the seasonal introspection that results from gloomy weather and darker nights. I don’t have a wood burner either, so I have to settle for YouTube ambience with rain and a crackling fire 😢 Anyway, I enjoyed reading about the traditions attached to All Souls Day! More of these things should be brought back just for fun.