English Soul Cakes

A gingerbread, or parkin, fragrant with spices and rich with butter, baked for distribution to the Soulers when they came to call on All Hallow’s Eve.

Soul, soul, for a soul cake!

I pray, good missis, for a soul cake!

An apple or pear, a plum, or a cherry,

Any good thing to make us merry.

One for Peter, two for Paul,

Three for Him who made us all.

Up with the kettle and down with the pan,

Give us good al