Darkest depths..
November starts with a flurry of Christian festivals. All Saint’s day on the 1st is a feast day observing the lives of the many saints for whom there is no specific feast day during the year.
All Soul’s Day on the 2nd used to be a huge celebration during medieval times. Masses were held and prayers said for the relief of souls to be cleansed of their sins to attain an eternal peace in heaven.
In the Middle Ages on the days around All Hallows Eve and All Souls' Day, poorer members of the community would go 'souling'. This involved going to the doors of their better off neighbours and asking for charity. They would be given 'soul cakes' made of oats. In return, they'd say prayers for the souls of the deceased relatives and friends of the people dispensing the charity, or sing them folk songs.
Soul-caking is probably a precursor of the modern practice of trick-or-treating. Dressing up in costumes is a key part of trick-or-treating, which also has long historical roots and likely has its origins in 'guising'. This was often associated with making mild mischief and transgressing the accepted bounds of good behaviour to a limited extent.
Soul Cake Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
300g plain flour
2 tsp ground mixed spice
A pinch of nutmeg
150g butter, diced
150g caster sugar
75g currants
2 egg yolks (or 1 whole egg, beaten)
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp oats
½ tbsp cider vinegar
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Sift the flour, spices and a pinch of salt into a mixing bowl, then add the butter and rub in with your fingers. Stir in the oats, currants and sugar.
Whisk the egg, milk and cider vinegar together until just combined, then stir into the dry ingredients. Bring together into a soft dough, and add more milk if the dough is too dry.
On a floured surface roll out to about 5mm thick. Stamp out the soul cakes with a 6-7cm round cutter, and score a cross lightly on the top. Transfer to two well-greased baking trays.
Bake for 15-25 minutes until pale golden brown. Cool on a wire rack, and enjoy!
“How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and colour are their last days.”
Late afternoon into dusk walk…… fluffy backlit travellers joy and an ice halo around the sun.
I watched the silvery fingers of mist, creep across the meadow and trickle into the woods.
Ravens croaked and as the noisy rooks settled, an owl screeched out and the day quietly folded itself into night.
November can still see lots of leaves on the trees if there haven’t been too many winter storms and I’m always happy when autumn lingers late into November. The colours of the dying season in the trees and hedgerows inspire me so much that I often find it hard to leave that warm palette alone and to embrace another.
The fields are ploughed into corduory lines, seeds snug beneath the good brown earth. The summer avian visitors are all gone South for the winter but our winter friends are just arriving. Geese crying on the wing always fill me with melancholy, and the swoosh of a swans mighty wings in flight is never forgotten.
The hedgehog has made a fast dry nest and has settled down to await the lighter days. The butterflies have found a safe place too but the squirrels are busy with winter stores, as too are the shy and so exotic looking jays.
In this month make most of the daylight by walking the misty land, smelling and seeing and in the darkness crafting and musing. There is much renewal in meditation and time at your wheel or sat with your project is a meditative practice. Sow ideas, set them free to come back when they are ready. Most of our actions come from our subconscious, so listen and look at what is being revealed to you.
Cosy up, light candles, make sweet hot drinks, light the wood burner, draw the curtains early and feel snug and smug in your contentedness. There is great strength to be drawn from this dark of the year, treasure the extra time the dark allows. Explore what you heave learnt so far and muse where you would like your path to head, on spring days yet to come.
