Even before children started knocking on doors to ask for candy, people in Christian Europe used to go to their neighbours and ask for food in return for saying prayers for the households’ deceased relatives. This little-known Catholic custom shows a surprising aspect of Halloween’s history.
Before Halloween came to be linked with costumes, candy and scary decorations, people in medieval England took part in a quite different door-to-door custom. The poorer members of the community would go to richer households and ask for small cakes, and sometimes they were given money or other food. As a token of gratitude, they provided something which medieval Christians regarded as of great value: prayers for the souls of the households’ deceased relatives.
The activity was called souling, and its association with Catholic teachings on death and purgatory provides a fascinating account of one of Halloween’s best-known traditions. As English Heritage historian Dr. Michael Carter points out, the custom was in place by about 1400 and continued for many centuries, especially within certain English Catholic communities. Even though historians do not regard souling as the only origin of today’s trick-or-treating, the similarity between it and children going from house to house to obtain treats is hard to overlook.
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The religious importance starts with the Catholic calendar, since on November 1 All Saints’ Day is observed in order to pay homage to the saints, and on November 2 All Souls’ Day is kept, traditionally as a day for remembering and praying for the faithful who have died. October 31 came to be called All Hallows’ Eve and later became known as Halloween. These practices were closely linked to the medieval Christian belief that the living could assist the dead by means of prayer.
To medieval Catholics, purgatory was seen as a stage of purification prior to reaching heaven; it was therefore regarded as an act of charity to pray for one’s deceased relatives rather than as a symbolic action. According to Dr. Carter’s historical research for English Heritage, the wealthier homes would give out small cakes, typically made from oats, while the poorer visitors would promise to say prayers for the members of the families who had died.
The practice is found in the medieval writings that have survived. In about the early 15th century, John Mirk, an English religious writer connected with Lilleshall Abbey, described a custom in which people would “bake bread and deal it for all Christian souls.” His description is important since it shows that the practice of distributing food in connection with prayers for the dead was already an established Christian custom long before the modern American Halloween celebrations.
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What is so interesting about souling is the way in which religion and economic inequality are linked. The poor obtained food from households that were able to give it, and in return the donors received prayers which they believed would provide a spiritual benefit to their dead relatives. This exchange associated charitable giving with religious duties and thus led to the development of a custom in which people from various social classes took part in the same community tradition.
Carter summarized the social significance of this practice in his research:
“The giving of soul cakes helped affirm community bonds.”
The practice also managed to endure despite the major religious changes. After the English Reformation in the 16th century, the Protestant authorities dismissed the Catholic views on purgatory and banned prayers for the dead from being part of official worship. Yet, according to English Heritage documents, the giving out of soul cakes went on in some Catholic families, with evidence from the 17th and early 18th centuries. The custom also persisted among non-Catholics, which shows that a religious tradition can remain part of local culture even when the beliefs have changed.
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There is, nevertheless, a significant historical qualification; modern trick-or-treating has not developed solely from Catholic souling. As the Library of Congress states in its account of Halloween traditions, Scottish guising, older Celtic customs and even German-American Christmas practices could have all contributed to the American tradition. In certain communities, children wore disguises and performed songs or jokes in return for treats, with no requirement to pray for the dead.
In the 20th century the American version of it became more and more linked with commercially produced candy. The nature of the financial change is remarkable. As the National Retail Federation’s September 2026 survey shows, Americans are expected to spend $13.5 billion on Halloween this year, of which about $4.1 billion will be spent on candy.
The example shows the great extent to which the meaning of giving food at Halloween has changed. In medieval England such an exchange was linked with charitable help and with prayers for the dead; in modern America a similar door-to-door practice is part of a huge consumer market which involves retailers, confectionery manufacturers and millions of households. The fact that today’s celebration can therefore not be seen merely as a commercial distortion of Catholic practice must be remembered since Halloween has developed out of a number of different cultural traditions. It does, nevertheless, demonstrate how religious customs can persist in modified forms long after their original meanings have disappeared.
Halloween’s history is therefore more complicated than the common idea that Christians simply took over a pagan festival; while Celtic traditions without a doubt contributed to the holiday, practices of medieval Catholicism also helped to establish the customs which are still recognizable today. The next time a child knocks on a door asking for candy, there is a historical link that is often neglected: in former centuries people went to their neighbours not just to get something sweet, but to offer prayers for the dead in exchange.
Featured image: Malikhpur / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped and color-adjusted.