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THE BOOK OF HALLOWE'EN
"Wife, some time this weeke, if the wether hold cleere,
An end of wheat-sowing we make for this yeare.
Remember you, therefore, though I do it not,
The seed-cake, the Pasties, and Furmentie-pot."
Tussser: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, 1580.
Cakes appear also at the vigil of All Souls', the next day. At a gathering they lie in a heap for the guests to take. In return they are supposed to say prayers for the dead.
"A Soule-cake, a Soule-cake; have mercy on all Christen souls for a Soule-cake.
Old Saying.
The poor in Staffordshire and Shropshire went about singing for soul-cakes or money, promising to pray and to spend the alms in masses for the dead. The cakes were called Soul-mass or " somas " cakes.
"Soul ! Soul ! for a soul-cake ;
Pray, good mistress, for a soul-cake.
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Notes and Queries.
