Halloween Carols by Kristen

We all know about Christmas Carols.   But, did you know there are also Halloween Carols?

Halloween Music by Kristen Lawrence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_LjZVCfoeI&list=RDm_LjZVCfoeI#t=136

Links to purchase on Kristen's website: http://HalloweenCarols.com 
A love of autumn and interest in the history of Halloween inspired Kristen to write and arrange music she calls her Halloween Carols™.

Her albums include: Arachnitect (2008), A Broom With A View (2009), Vampire Empire (2009), and Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven (2012).

What are soul cakes?

In the Middle Ages, the poor would go to homes and offer to pray for people's beloved departed in exchange for soul cakes.

Cathedral bells and organs would ring out on All Souls Day (November 2) as the “soulers” would go about this Christian custom singing such phrases as:

            “Soul! Soul! for an apple or two! If you have no apples, pears will do. If you have no pears, money will do. If you have no money, God bless you!”

“A soul cake, a soul cake Please, good missus, a soul cake; One for Peter, two for Paul And three for Him that made us all”

This custom of “souling” may predate Christianity and may have been a pagan custom known as Samhain which is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. Traditionally, Samhain is celebrated from sunset on 31 October to sunset on 1 November, which is about halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.  Samhain is believed to have pagan origins and there is evidence it has been an important date since ancient times.

Halloween in the USA also incorporates part of the British custom of Guy Fawlkes Day of November 5 when Protestants would knock on Catholic doors and yell out “Trick or Treat” to commemorate the date when the insurrectionist Catholic Guy Fawlkes and his band tried to blow up the Protestant British Parliament and King.