All Souls' Day

(2 November)

   Also called Soulmas Day, Saumas, etc. This feast was devised by Abbot Odilo of Cluny (d. 1049), to pray for 'all the dead who have existed from the beginning of the world to the end of time'. He set it in February, but it was soon transferred to the day after *All Saints; its sombre associations affected All Saints' Day and ultimately its eve as well, giving rise to many aspects of *Halloween. It is probable that in medieval England, as in many Catholic countries, the dead were believed to leave Purgatory for two or three days, to revisit their homes and seek the prayers of their relatives. In The Gentleman's Magazine for November 1784, a correspondent said children at Findern (Derbyshire) lit small *bonfires on the common on 2 November, calling them 'tindles'; adults recalled that the purpose had originally been 'to light souls out of Purgatory'. There are similar reports from Lancashire, but these seem to be isolated examples.

   Before the Reformation, it was customary to distribute food and alms to the poor on All Souls' Day as a fee for praying for the dead. Later, *Aubrey describes piles of small cakes set out on this day in Shropshire houses, for visitors to take one; he also gives 'an old Rhythm or saying':