Ss. Simon and Jude Soul Cakes

History

This week’s activity comes out of an interesting intersection between the feast of Saints Simon and Jude, All Hallow’s Eve (or Halloween), and All Saints’ Day. Somewhere in history, the Allhallowtide festivities, which would sometimes last several days encompassing the various holidays celebrated at the end of October and beginning of November, came to be associated with the commemoration of this pair of saints. For this reason, the soul cake—originally an All Saints’ treat—became a tradition to enjoy in honor of St. Simon and Jude.

The history of the cake itself is fascinating, even if often forgotten. After all, in modern times, many reformed Christians have decided to forget Halloween altogether, since they see it as having little to nothing to do with honoring or remembering the saints who have gone before us. Additionally, us Lutherans have our own particular logics for sometimes downplaying Halloween: we celebrate Reformation Day on October 31^st, providing many with another reason to avoid the seemingly gore-filled holiday.

But Lutherans need not be so quick to dismiss Halloween: indeed, dressing up and going door to door begging for food (and prayers!) is exactly how Christians have traditionally celebrated the days surrounding All Saints’! From the medieval period to as late as the nineteenth century, Christians would walk from house to house in search of soul cakes (this tradition was called a-souling) and prayers. This tradition of going a-souling is actually the basis for the modern custom of trick-or-treating. Due to Ss. Simon and Jude’s day on October 28th and its close proximity to All Hallow’s Eve, some of these celebrations (such as a-souling and the making and eating of soul cakes) became associated with their day as well due to drawn-out celebrations.

Further, this rhyme that children would sing while a-souling is just one of many historic traditions that you can find that connects these various days together:

One for Peter, and two for Paul;

Three for him who made us all.

Pray good people

Remember the poor.

And give us all a good soul-cake

For the blessed dead and charity’s sake.

Ss. Simon and Jude Soul Cakes

Ingredients

2 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ginger

¼ tsp nutmeg

pinch of cloves

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 stick of butter, room temperature

½ C granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ C milk

¼ C dried fruit

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Whisk together the flour, spices, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Continue mixing and add in the egg yolks and vanilla extract. Then, pour in the milk and stir for an additional 10 seconds.
4. While the mixer is running, begin to pour in the dry ingredients until it is all incorporated. The dough should pull away from the sides.
5. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut out circular cookies, placing them on a greased cookie sheet.
6. Before baking, cut a cross shape into the top of the cookies. Bake in the oven at 350°F for 10-15 min.

Article by Catholic Culture on the Ss. Simon and Jude