One thing which I have always loved about the UK is all of the food traditions and superstitions they have surrounding the holidays and holy-days of the year. Halloween is also known as All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.
Soul Cakes are old English traditional cakes that are usually baked on Halloween. On this day of the year, in years gone past, Children would go 'souling', on this day, singing from house to house for some of these tasty cakes. This was in all likelihood a precursor today's custom of children going Trick-or-Treating.
In Christian countries, and in the Roman Catholic church, prayers for the souls of the departed are reflected in the 3 day celebration of the commemoration of the departed which begins on the 31st of October, or All Hallow's Eve.
November 1st is known as All Saint's day, a day on which the souls of those who have departed are venerated . . .
And on the 2nd of November, we have All Souls' Day when the souls of those who have departed are prayed for . . . and n particular those family members who are still in purgatory and awaiting their entry into Heaven.
The souls of these people were believed to be spending a period of time suffering in Purgatory to pay for sins committed during their earthly lives.
Prayers and vigils were thought to ease their suffering, hasten their release from Purgatory and entry into Heaven.
