h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A bit of info on the possible origins of Soul cakes. Samhain isn't necessarily the 31st October. Celts didn't even use the same calendar as we do now, it is likely that their festivals were timed by the cycle of the moon so Samhain could fall 31st October - 9th November. Much of the festivities of 5th Nov seem to originate in ancient celtic practice not from Guy Fawkes celebrations. Christians needed to Christianise pagan practices to make Christianity appealing to a pagan people who enjoyed their festivals, hence the invention of All Saints and All Souls day. Soul cakes were probably part of the original celtic practices in England. Soul cakes were baked and then one blackened over the bonfire (Samhain being a fire festival). The people in attendance then all picked a soul cake, the person who picked the blackened one was sacrificed. In later years sacrifice stopped but the person who picked a blackened soul cake had to run bare foot over the hot coals of the fire. I have read of local traditions in some areas that still did something similar in recent years on Guy Fawkes night.

Hi Deakie,

Thanks for the info. I've just come back from a Samhain ritual.

I had hoped I had made it clear in the entry that the origins predate Christianity as do the majority of our traditional festivals. If you think this is not clear, I'll point it up more.

I wouldn't be at all surprised about the festival being a moveable one, dependant on the phase of the moon.

I didn't know about the sacrificial element to souling you mention, although it is pretty clear that all the other dramas are based on the sacrifice of the sacred king to ensure fertility. Where did you get the information on this?

I've just completed an entry for the University - Heracles - as part of the Greek myths, and it is surprising the links between this entry and that vis a vis fertility ceremonies, involving either choosing the sacred king or in his (or his tanist's) sacrifice.

I had wondered whether to include this material, but decided it may be too esoteric.

Hi, Deackie,

Having thought, the stuff about the blackened soulcake could be that could be the origin of blackballing someone. Do you have any further information on it?

The info comes from some books I have read recently about Paganism and the Celts. They approached the subject in an historical way, eg. reading relevant evidence, interviews with people whose beliefs have been passed down orally to them, archaeological evidence, etc. Two really good books are "Twilight of the Celtic Gods" by D. Clarke and A. Roberts and "The Celtic Druids' Year" by J. King.

An interesting explanation is made in the Celtic Druids' Year about the ritual death of Kings. It is supposed to represent the changing seasons, a similar idea to the Greek myth of Persephone. The Old King dies and the new King is born who then becomes the old King as the year progresses and fathers the new King. The cycle then repeats. It is suggested that perhaps at one point Celtic tribal Kings only ruled for one year and were then sacrificed to mimic the legends. There is also a very convincing argument that Samhain isn't the Celtic New Year and why the author has concluded this.

Ritual meals before a ritual sacrifice have been shown to have happened when Archaeologists have post-mortemed probably sacrifices. The black balling connection is one I hadn't thought of but it sounds like a reasonable assumption.

Thank you, Deakie!

I was aware of the one year reign of the king, the ceremonies undergone in order to become a king and the ritual killing at the end, later undertaken by a tanist (substitute) who reigned for a day in the king's stead then was sacrificed. My reading on this was from Fold Song in England, by AL Lloyd and Robert Graves' The Greek Myths, parts I & II. Later, a symbol, eg the wren (songs tell of the horse, the ram, the herring, etc) was sacrificed instead.

When I was researching the University Project (now finished - well my bit at least) on Heracles, the parallels were very clear. (Have a look under http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A650008 ).

I haven't read the books you mention, but I will now. I'll amend the section on souling to include the bit about the blackened one.

I hesitate to expand the references to the other material in case the entry gets too unwieldy, although it might make a good theme for another entry.

What do you think?

Thank you, Deakie!

I was aware of the one year reign of the king, the ceremonies undergone in order to become a king and the ritual killing at the end, later undertaken by a tanist (substitute) who reigned for a day in the king's stead then was sacrificed. My reading on this was from Fold Song in England, by AL Lloyd and Robert Graves' The Greek Myths, parts I & II. Later, a symbol, eg the wren (songs tell of the horse, the ram, the herring, etc) was sacrificed instead.

When I was researching the University Project (now finished - well my bit at least) on Heracles, the parallels were very clear. (Have a look under http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A650008 ).

I haven't read the books you mention, but I will now. I'll amend the section on souling to include the bit about the blackened one.

I hesitate to expand the references to the other material in case the entry gets too unwieldy, although it might make a good theme for another entry.

What do you think?

I think you're right about not including too much info that is only indirectly related to your entry. I find that the hardest bit about writing entries, it's not what you put in it's what you leave out. Definitely the start of another entry though

I'm off to read your entry on Heracles.

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