Halloween, Donuts and Soul Cakes

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I was thinking about Halloween and what kind of post to do this year, which is hard since Halloween wasn't a big deal during WWII and really wasn't even much of a children's holiday.  Halloween and trick or treating didn't become a such a big thing for kids until after the war.  

Searching through my virtual folder marked Halloween, I came across this old ad from a 1943 Life Magazine.  I had already done a Weekend Cooking post called Victory through Donuts about the hard-working canteen women of the Red Cross, who went all over this country and Britain handing out coffee and donuts to soldiers, and thought I was done with donuts of WWII.   

But when I saw that little square at the end of the illustrations, reminding people to invite servicemen to their Halloween Party, and to serve donuts, I began to wonder why donuts are so much a part of Halloween festivities.

Enlargement from the above ad.

Turns out, there is a reason for it and it has noting to do with servicemen or WWII, but is interesting nevertheless.  So, what's the scoop?

It all began with an old English custom, mostly likely stemming from the very early Middle Ages, if not actually from the dark ages.  All Hallows Eve (October 31st) was traditionally the time that the dead return to earth along with all manner of dark forces, such as witches, ghosts, goblins, and devils, to wreck havoc and mischief.  And it was a day when Christians would stay home and lit fires to keep away any of these spirits.  On the next two days, All Saints' Day, also called All Hallows Day, and All Souls' Day, it was the custom of the poor and destitute to go out begging, or a-soulin', from door to door and singing their traditional soul song.

When a beggar did come to someones door, s/he would be given a small round cake called a soul cake in return for a promise to pray for those who had died in the household during the past year and who might still in Purgatory.  The cakes were a type of shortbread and had a cross drawn on it to make it as an alms cakes, and sometimes it would also have currants sprinkled on the top.  They would look something like this:

From NPR, where  you can get the recipe

Legend has it, however, that the beggars were more interested in the food they received and not terribly in the prayers they promised in return.  One woman decided to cut a hole in the middle of the soul cake, fried it in deep fat and gave them out to anyone who came a-soulin'.  The circle was a reminder of eternity, where we will all end up someday.  Whether true or not, it is the precursor to having donuts at Halloween.

You may remember that Peter, Paul and Mary had a song called A-Soalin' on their 1963 album Moving (which also had Puff the Magic Dragon on it).  Their version pretty close to all the old version I have seen, and you might think that the last stanza was attached to the original song  by the trio because of its reference to Christmas.  This isn't entirely wrong since the poor and destitute went a-soulin' or really a-wassailing at Christmastime as well as on All Saints' and All Souls Days:

Well, this is a long way from donuts, soldiers and WWII, but here is a reminder to enjoy a donut for Halloween with your own trick or treaters, after all,

NB: I've give just a basic description of soulin' and soul cakes.  There are actually a number of descriptions about the origins of these traditions, and the roots of  Halloween.  You may even recall that soul cakes were mention in the novel Catherine, called Birdy by Karen Cushman.

WWII: What to do when trick or treating is cancelled!

By the time October 31, 1942 rolled around, the country was going full speed ahead producing wartime materials; sugar was rationed, the blackout was in effect and many communities decided to simply cancel Halloween trick or treating.  For some kids, Halloween meant too much free time to get into trouble with so many parents not home because of working and juvenile delinquency was already on the rise.  For other kids, it meant the usual pranks, like soaping windows, just weren't much fun to play on already exhausted adults.  For all kids, treats were in short supply and no one had anything to give away.

To counter this and not disappoint kids, parents, schools and communities decided to have Halloween parties, in order to have

HOW DO YOU HAVE A HALLOWEEN PARTY IN WWII?
MAYBE LIKE THIS

First, invitations would be send out:

Next, find some Halloween decorations and party suggestions from your favorite magazine or comic book:

Used with permission of Jeff Pepper at 2719 Hyperion

Then, buy or make some decorations:

Carve the Pumpkin:

Choose a costume:

At the party, serve some food:

Then, play some games like Apple Snap or Bobbing for Apples:

Stunt and Fortune Telling games were also popular:

Or make your own Fortune Teller (you can find instructions for making this great Halloween Fortune Teller thanks to Shannon's instructions at The Diary of a Nouveau Soccer Mom)

Most of all, have some fun

AND A VERY HAPPY AND SAFE HALLOWEEN!

Halloween Special: Meet Molly by Valerie Tripp and Have a Molly Halloween

The original Meet Molly

Meet Molly is the first novel of the six Molly McIntire series books from American Girl.  Molly is 9 year old and living on the American home front during World War II.  Her father, Dr. McIntire, had joined the Army when war was declared and is stationed in England, where he is caring for wounded soldiers.  Molly's mother is doing her bit working for the Red Cross.  Molly has a sister Jill, 14, a brother Ricky, 12, and a brother Brad, 5.  Molly's two best friends are Linda and Susan.

It is 1944 and the war is still raging in Europe and the Pacific.  The country is feeling the effects of rationing and shortages, so people really have to be clever and economical about coming up with Halloween costumes and treats.  As the story opens, Molly has been sitting at the dinner table for over 2 hours with a plate of cold turnips in front of her.  Molly, a rather headstrong girl, had refused to eat the turnips and Mrs. Gilford, just as headstrong, refused to excuse her until they were gone.  Molly spent her table time dreaming of the beautiful Cinderella costume she was planning to wear for Halloween, IF her mother would buy the yards of fancy material needed and IF she agrees to sew it for Molly.  This dream, however, quickly hits reality the next day when her best friends are less then enthusiastic about being the ugly stepsisters to Molly's Cinderella.

The newest Meet Molly

But Mrs. McIntire saves the day when she suggests the girls go as Hawaiian hula dancers and shows them how to make a costume using crepe paper, paint and strips of newspaper.  All three girls are very happy with this costume, and go off trick or treating after school, and collecting lots of goodies by the end of the day.  The only problem is Ricky, who has planned his revenge on the girls for having teased him about his crush on Jill's friend Dolores earlier.  And after he ruins their costumes and their treats when he douses them with water, the girls decide to declare war on Ricky and to get their revenge on him.

There are, of course, lessons to learn in Meet Molly about fighting, peace and sharing - good lessons in general but here also very apropos of the time.

In this nicely done chapter book, Valerie Tripp has managed to get much of life on the home front onto Molly's Halloween story.  There is Mrs. Gilford's Victory Garden that didn't do as well as hoped because of the excessively hot summer; Mom's job that takes her away from home so much of the time; missing Dad and wondering whether he is alright and of course, wanting things to be the way they used to be.  And at the end of the novel, there is short "A Peek into the Past" which covers the cause of the war and tells something about how life really was for kids like Molly on 1944 home front.

I love a good activity book and a nice companion to Meet Molly is Have a Molly Halloween, an activity book for making the kinds of Halloween treats, games, and decorations Molly might have made in 1944, along with instructions for making Molly's Hawaiian hula costume and her brother Ricky's pirate outfit.  There are a total of 37 activities in the book along supplies for making six crafts, including beads, pipe cleaners, and stickers.  All of the activities are easy and fun for kids to make.  Have a Molly Halloween is currently out of print but you can still find it online, and often with the craft supplies intact and for a reasonable price.

These are two favorites we did in my house over the years:

The trick or treat bags were especially popular and we also bought some small brown paper bags, decorated them with Halloween designs, fill them with some candy and tied it all up with twine to give to any trick or treaters who can to the door.  It was a lot of fun and a nice family project.

Halloween wasn't really celebrated during World War II, certainly not the way it is nowadays.  Sugar was rationed, limiting the kinds of treats people could give to kids.  Popcorn balls and donuts were very popular, as were apples, which were never rationed.  With the country at war, some tricks would have just been too mean to play on people and rationing took care of things like soaping windows or toilet papering trees.  And of course the blackout meant NO lights, so evening trick or treating was out of the question.  Instead, many people chose to just have parties at home, doing things like dunking for apples, pin the tail on the devil and other easy to do games.  And what could be better in a darkened world than  telling scary ghost stories.  Scouts, churches and other organizations also threw parties for kids, either after school or on the weekend.  Wherever the party, it was a chance for kids to demonstrate their creativity coming up with costumes and decorations using whatever was at hand, unless you were one of these kids who were lucky enough to have a popular Army, Navy, Air Force kid-sized uniform or the ever popular nurse costume to wear.

From Have a Molly Halloween

However you choose to celebrate the day,

I Wish Everyone a Happy, Safe, Fun-filled Halloween