{"id":975,"date":"2014-02-16T19:41:20","date_gmt":"2014-02-16T19:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/potbanks.wordpress.com\/?p=975"},"modified":"2014-02-16T19:41:20","modified_gmt":"2014-02-16T19:41:20","slug":"miss-keary-rescues-the-north-staffordshire-halloween-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/2014\/02\/16\/miss-keary-rescues-the-north-staffordshire-halloween-song\/","title":{"rendered":"Miss Keary rescues the North Staffordshire Halloween song"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Staffordshire Knots<\/em>, 1895…<\/p>\n

\n

“I should be greatly obliged to anyone who could give me the whole of this “souling song” which I heard some Trentham school children singing only a few months ago and took down at the time. I understand that it used to be always sung in the neighbourhood [while going trick-or-treating] on [the eve, 1st Nov, of] All Souls’ Day but there used to be more to it. <\/p>\n

“Soul, soul, an apple or two
\nIf you have no apples, pears will do ;
\nUp with your kettles, down with your pans,
\nPray, good missus, a soul-cake ! <\/p>\n

Souling-day comes once a year
\nWhen it comes, it finds us here.
\nThe cock sits up in the yew-tree,
\nThe hens came cackling by,
\nI wish you a merry Christmas,
\nAnd a good fat pig i’ the stye. <\/p>\n

Peter stands at yonder gate
\nWaiting for a soul-cake ;
\nOne for Peter, two for Paul,
\nThree for Him who made us all.”<\/p>\n

So interesting a relic as this, which must have come down with little alteration from mediaeval times, certainly ought not to be lost.” <\/p>\n

\n

Elsewhere she writes…<\/p>\n

“In the north of the county [of Staffordshire] we have the custom of Souling, or [children] begging for apples [at the doors of local homes] on the Eve of All Souls\u2019 Day, November 1st.” <\/p>\n

\n

Miss Alice Annie Keary was the North Staffordshire folklore and folksong collector of the mid 1890s. She was the sister of Charles Francis Keary<\/a>. Also the very good friend of the famous folklorist Miss Charlotte Sophia Burne, who until circa 1894 resided at Pyebirch, Eccleshall.<\/p>\n

The final three lines are, of course, a Christianised version of the famous children’s magpie counting rhyme: “One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy… etc”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Staffordshire Knots, 1895… “I should be greatly obliged to anyone who could give me the whole of this “souling song” which I heard some Trentham school children singing only a few months ago and took down at the time. I understand that it used to be always sung in the neighbourhood [while going trick-or-treating] […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}