P6 enjoyed some cookery with Mrs Maguire, as part of our learning topic for this week, Halloween.
The Halloween holiday has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”), a pagan religious celebration to welcome the harvest at the end of summer, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
Halloween, otherwise known as All Hallow’s Eve, also marks the eve of All Saint’s Day, which occurs on the 1st of November.
Historically speaking, people exchanged gifts around this time of year.
A soul cake is a small round cake, with a biscuit appearance, that is made with sweet spices and dried fruit. The tradition originated in the Middle Ages and continued until the 1930s. Traditionally, the cakes were called souls and were given out to soulers – mainly children and the poor. They would go from door to door during the days of All-Hallowtide singing and saying prayers (souling) for the souls of deceased people in the hope that they would give them a soul cake.
This practice still continues in other countries in the world, such as Portugal and the Philippines.
Today, the P6 class had their opportunity to re-create these soul cakes and they went down a treat this afternoon!
