The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 06 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 06 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
Thus the practice of “souling” appears to have prevailed especially in the
English counties which border on Wales. In many parts of Wales itself down
to the first half of the nineteenth century poor peasants used to go about
begging for bread on All Souls’ Day. The bread bestowed on them was called
_bara ran_ or dole-bread. “This custom was a survival of the Middle Ages,
when the poor begged bread for the souls of their departed relatives and
friends.”(163) However, the custom was not confined to the west of
England, for at Whitby in Yorkshire down to the early part of the
nineteenth century it was usual to make “soul mass loaves” on or about All
Souls’ Day. They were small round loaves, sold by bakers at a farthing
apiece, chiefly for presents to children. In former times people used to
keep one or two of them for good luck.(164) In Aberdeenshire, also, “on
All Souls’ Day, baked cakes of a particular sort are given away to those
who may chance to visit the house, where they are made. The cakes are
called ‘dirge-loaf.’ ”(165) Even in the remote island of St. Kilda it was
customary on All Saints’ Day to bake a large cake in the form of a
triangle, furrowed round; the cake must be all eaten that night.(166)
(M70) The same mode of celebrating All Souls’ Day has been transported by
Catholicism to the New World and imparted to the aborigines of that
continent. Thus in Carchi, a province of Ecuador, the Indians prepare
foods of various sorts against All Souls’ Day, and when the day has come
they take some of the provisions to the church and there deposit them on
tables set out for the purpose. These good things are the perquisite of
the priest, who celebrates mass for the dead. After the service the
Indians repair to the cemetery, where with burning candles and pots of
holy water they prostrate themselves before the tombs of their relations,
while the priest or the sacristan recites prayers for the souls of the
departed. In the evening the Indians return to their houses. A table with
four lights on it is spread with food and drink, especially with such
things as the dead loved in their life. The door is left open all night,
no doubt to let the spirits of the dead enter, and the family sits up,
keeping the invisible guests company through the long hours of darkness.
From seven o’clock and onwards troops of children traverse the village and
its neighbourhood. They go from house to house ringing a bell and crying,
“We are angels, we descend from the sky, we ask for bread.” The people go
to their doors and beg the children to recite a _Pater Noster_ or an _Ave
Maria_ for the dead whom they name. When the prayer has been duly said,
they give the children a little of the food from the table. All night long
this goes on, band succeeding band of children. At five o’clock in the
morning the family consumes the remainder of the food of the souls.(167)
Here the children going from door to door during the night of All Souls
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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