We hope that you'll be kind

If you listened to Thursday’s Advent offering, you’ll have noticed that roving mobs of singers demanding wassail also asked for cakes. This would probably be due to the melding of pre-Christian druidic defying-the-winter customs with Advent preparations for the birth of Christ. Recall—Advent in the Christian calendar is meant to be a quiet time, for contemplation and reflection. Rollicking about the village extorting cales and ale (literally), not so much.

However, we got what we got.

And to reflect on that, I’m giving you Sting singing “Soul Cake”. This song is more frequently associated with All Souls Day, which follows Halloween (“All Hallows Eve”) and All Saints Day, a trifecta built on the Celtic Samhain, when the line between living and dead is blurred. Soul cakes are round shortbread-like things given out by householders to roving mobs of singers of extortion like songs. But “souling”, as it’s called, is also a part of Christmastide (which runs from 24 December to 6 January). So it's legit here.

(Note that, in addition to the request for the cake, the song urges the householder to go down the cellar and find some ale.)

And to further celebrate, I’m sharing with you all the cakes I had while in Sarajevo.

(When I texted one of these pix to a friend, I noted that Bosnians give you a teeny fork with your cake—rather like a seafood cocktail fork—so you can't gobble it down in three bites. She replied, "I guess that's when you can pick out the Americans because they just start eating it with their hands.")