"If you haven't got a pear, then God bless you," that might be meant in a sympathetic way. That is, if you honestly don't have any food to give the poor, you might just be that poor yourself.

I love how you portray history in a very conversational way. There's no pretense or declarative speech. If you don't know, you say so. It's very refreshing. It's like a conversation one might have just working on the farm, wandering the trails or at a dinner table. Nice.

This channel is so pure

The line "Then God bless you" may be in reference to the giver being poorer than the beggar. A wish of blessing on someone in harder times than them.

When I was a bairn we still hollowed out turnips for halloween and lit them with candles. I loved the smell of turnip slowly roasting from the inside.

The Welsh name for Halloween is *Nos Calan Gaeaf* ,it translates literally as Night of Winter's eve.The ancient Britons (the direct ancestors of the Welsh) divided the year into four seasons - each had a starting and finishing point : Winter began on November the 1st ,and ended on January the 31st,the peak of those three months of winter being December the 21st - the shortest ( and therefore darkest) day. The season of Spring then started on February the 1st ,and ended on the last day of April. May the 1st then saw the beginning of the three months of the Summer season ,it peaked on June the 21st ( the longest day) and ended on July the 31st. The season of Autumn then started on August the 1st , taking us to October the 31st - winter's eve.

I love the gentle mysticism you bring to history in this episode. Well done, Sir. Another little slice to chew on: After the night turns to day on 1 November, any above ground crop unharvested was left in the field. There was a mystical explanation for this but the practical reason was simple. The grains often start to develop a deadly mold due to the weather change, especially on rye and barley. Fruits/berries start to ferment or rot from the inside. If these items are added to your root cellar or storage barrels, you could lose ruin those food items over the winter. You might not have enough to make it to spring harvest. The same would apply to the carcass burning; it prevents cross contamination, keeping the stored food safe, in addition to providing nutrients for the fields. Thank you again for such wonderful insight.

The sound of horses crunching grass is one of the sweetest, calming sounds there is

So pleasant to see you standing quietly with Warlord, and we just listen to the sound of him pulling grass. Very nice.

you always bring history to the people celebrating or living the real days, not a history lesson. thanks so much. love it. :) n.b. the song is the same as “Christmas is coming” which has the lines: “Please to put a penny in the old man’s hat. If you haven’t got a penny a hay’penny will do. If you haven’t got a hay’penny, then god bless you.” :) 🎄

The shot with the moon, the torch and the guy speaking is really, REALLY EPIC

Even here in the Netherlands Halloween is becoming more and more populair. Children participate in Trick-o'-treat walks around town being dressed up to the occassion.

Great episode. Loved the visuals. Nowadays on All Saints Day, we (American Catholics) ask for the intercession of all the saints on our behalf including the formula “St Boniface (for example), pray for us”. Then the next day we pray for all of our departed family and friends. I don’t know how far back in time this goes. Thanks for your channel. Wonderful.

Salty cakes make a lot of sense in the Medieval days at Halloween as salt repels evil spirits, which is why it is customary even in modern times to throw salt over your shoulder. Another great episode as always.

I interpret that poem that ends in "if not a pear, then God bless you" as a if you dont even have so much as a pear, then bless your soul as you are lacking in food and winter is upon us. Almost luck a good luck, wouldn't want to be you Maybe I also am misinterpreting it but that was my take away.

"Halloween..." he says, as he appears from the darkness with a flaming torch. #mood

What I find really nice is that it seems the poor were often thought about and cared for by all people it seems. From this festival giving soul cakes, to the duke giving bread and so on.

In Germany, there is still a tradition where on St. Martin's day 11.11.) children go from house to house with very similar rhymes and songs as the one you cited and which vary regionally to ask for sweets, or originally, of course, apples, pears and nuts. Sadly this tradition is in decline ever since celebrating Halloween became more popular here as well around A.D. 2000. So this reminded me strongly of my childhood when hearing this. It is also around this time children walk around with colourful and often self-crafted lanterns. Another similarity. Though this obviously has other roots it is still fascinating how similar traditions often are. This one is clearly based on St. Martin who according to legend cut his cloak in half to give part of it to a beggar he saw freezing in the street, but still it is very similar and around the same time. On a sideline: The 11.11. at 11:11h is also the time the carnival period starts eventually leading up to the 40 days of lent before Easter. And this marks the time when ordinary people were allowed to criticize and make fun of their lords and masters (and still do so) without consequence. Also a tradition that goes back to medieval times. Thank you for taking your time doing all these fantastic mini-documentaries, they are fantastic! And interestingly enough, as costume for carnival my son has chosen to dress up as a knight. He is also doing horse riding as one of the few boys who do so these days and doing archery, so I guess I have to look out for somewhere he can train how to handle a sword 😂 Unfortunately he doesn't speak English well enough yet, or I am sure he would love this channel. Thanks again.

Jason never and I mean NEVER disappoints! He's such a cool guy

Beautiful - and I recognised warlord even through the fog ... I'm glad you mentioned the spiderwebs covering the grass at this time of year. This can even be seen in the parks and on the playing fields if one gets out early enough. The sun just striking those webs: a magical picture! As for rowan berries: heh, I dunno - those berries on the rowan in my tiny back garden have usually been eaten by garden birds well before Halloween.

I love the fact that Warlord gets the top credit!

"Have some grass!" "Thank you human you're very kind".

Mr. Kingsley, sir, you have the most awesome job. I can not imagine anything that would be more fun to do to make a living.

Loved your video! The proliferation of spider webs was a great bit of information I had not heard before. Also, your mentioning of how foggy England gets during the fall sparked a thought about the 13th century poem, Gylfaginning, and a few other epic poems that describe Niflhel as a land of mist and fog in which dead men dwell. It is long believed that older traditions looked at most things that are transitional in time and space as particularly conducive to allowing spirits to cross between worlds. Old Breton, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Viking culture each most likely contributed some surviving traditions to Halloween in Medieval England.

I have never heard a explanation of Halloween like that Thank you for this wonderfull Video and the spirit you catch with it Yours Frank

If you haven't got a penny , a halfpenny will do, if you haven't got a halfpenny then God bless you.

This channel is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Awesome job. It’s Crazy understanding and connecting back with what all our ancestors did not that many generations ago. The sense of community and the living and dead intersecting again. Most fun holiday by far! but the second best.

It was not always bad things, in Baltic, we didn't have halloween but "Veļi" spirits of the dead, not really bad thing. While there were important days it usually was time period from about 29 of September till about 10 of November. It was time to remember old relatives and to tell stories. It was forbidden to do mayor jobs, to sing and to be loud. As a tradition it was still alive in 19th century, especially setting tables with food for spirits, often also getting sauna ready, putting clean towels for them, like you would do for important but loved guests. Unfortunately church wasn't so happy, about holding all kinds of dead spirits in such hight honor. I would like to see it as a tradition to be reborn.

There is something relaxing and soothing listening to a horse eat grass. It makes me forget, for a little while, all the craziness we're all dealing with. Thanks for that. But. It brings to mind death. How did medieval people deal with death? And wound care after battle? All the sharp, pointy things they bashed each other about with that you so masterfully demonstrate, I expect lots of fatalities and injury that led to infection. Were there physicians or barber surgeons at that time? Thank you.

This was actually the first MHTV video I ever saw. It is just as magical now as then. The Halloween imagery is so compelling. The first Christmas video is fun too. Instantly hooked me on MHTV.

In my recent ancient Celts course we learned about ritual and religion and they mention Samhain or Halloween as the Celtic New Year and a time when important gatherings, rituals and sacrifices would be made. That might have played into how the medieval people saw the holiday and that tone of year.

Watched this last year- now it was "suggested" again. A great Halloween background! I hope everyone at least has a pear!!!🌿

I think people had a better understanding of the practical side of nature than folks now, we might know now where everything comes from but more and more practical, u could almost say day to day knowledge about nature is lost. Like for examples most ppl don't know that birds are pretty good predictors of air pressure and thus weather: in Dutch we say: "Vogels vliegen hoog, morgen blijft het droog." _Birds flying high, tommorow it's dry._

In the poem when it says "if you haven't got a pear then God bless you", I never saw that as a threat. I saw it as pity. You're so poor that you don't even have a pear to share with others. That's just always been my take on it.

I’ve always interpreted that last part of the soaling rhymes as “if you don’t even have a pear, you must be as poor as me, god bless you as well!” I love the Peter Paul and Mary recording of a soaling song, whose lyrics include a similar line: “The streets are very dirty, my shoes are very thin. I have a little pocket to put a penny in. If you haven’t got a penny, a hay-penny will do! If you haven’t got a hay-penny, then god bless you.” To me the lyric wishes good will for a fellow impoverished person, as much of the other rhymes wish well for anyone regardless of class (I.e. “Bless the master of this house, and the mistress also, and all the little children that ‘round your table go; the cattle in the stable, the dog by your front door, and all that dwells within your house, we wish you ten times more!”).

so soothing to listen to you while holding a torch or petting a horse

I’ve never been a real student of medieval times; my historical passion encompassed the mid-19th century (I was a re-enactor of the American War For Southern Independence for 10 years) and the mid-20th century. However, you have kindled within me a growing interest in the medieval period through your most excellent series of viddies and for that, I sincerely thank you, Sir. Your passion for the period is readily visible, and you make it live again because you make it all so very human. And, too, um, I confess: I love Warlord, he reminds me of my youth working on big cattle ranches in Nevada and Colorado. Give him a sweet from me, would you? 😊 Be well and carry on! 🌹

Halloween bonfires still happen in Ireland and barm brack is traditional (a descendant of souls cakes perhaps?). My mother used to carve swedes too.

Here in the north of England around the time of Halloween we have "Mischievious Night", when kids used to tie their neighbours door handles together with string & play "knock-a-door-run", then watch the fun as folk tried to open their front doors, whilst the kids threw eggs at the windows. (Because we're civilized like that 😄) I think this could've played a part in the Trick or Treat aspect of Halloween, I'm led to believe they may have had a similar thing in Ireland. I certainly remember carving a face out of a swede or turnip when I was a kid to make a Jack o' Lantern.

I always knew there was a lot of history with regards to Halloween, but I never took the time to delve very deeply into it. After my childhood, I largely just ignored it. It was cool to watch this video and discover that Halloween is possibly one of the most intricate Holidays in western society. Thanks for the look back! Cheers

In Assyrian tradition, we have what's called 'Somikka' or 'Holy Halloween'. It's where people dress up in scary costumes and masks, going from house to house to frighten children into fasting for Lent. Parents would give the people in costumes food or money to bribe them away or as a promise that the children would fast. I'm not sure of the origins of Somikka, but my guess is that it was adopted from Europeans at some point in time, perhaps during the Crusades or WWI. Who knows? Also, I've never see webs on the grass like that before; it's really quite pretty.

I hear the "God bless you" in the chanted poem as saying if you haven't a pear or two you're worse off than me or your neighbors so we'll leave you alone with this good wish, as you need it.

Another great video. So much folklore lost and the video can only scratch the surface of modern memory. For a few scenes I thought it was a U2 video from the 1980s! I really enjoy these medieval society videos. Perhaps more than than the knightly orientated videos.

2:37 there is one more point about the harvest and the Halloween that a lot of people ignore. I think that Halloween is a statement to the death it self that the people are prepared and they are not afraid of it. The harvest is done, the warehouses are full, so full, that people actually make lanterns out of the food (pumpkins), they celebrate and laugh from the death as if ignoring the harsh period that is about to hit them for more than half of the year. So I think Halloween is a boastful celebration and a challenging statement to the death itself, the claim of readiness and a show of courage.

Good video, beautiful horse too . Autumn and winter are when I'm at my happiest always have been and I guess allways will, only problem is we dont seem to get proper winters now in the Thames Thames valley at least ..

I've been totally captivated by this series and your show in general. Thank you, for everything. God Bless.

I'm an "older" English woman and I remember celebrating Halloween the children would be dressing up to go out to visit the neighbours for a Trick or Treat.We did Apple bobbing and made a haunted house with peeled grapes for eyeballs, a cabbage for a severed head and cold spaghetti for the intestines.

You took the baton from Michael Wood for being a genuinely interesting and thoroughly knowledgeable person on a particular subject matter. You present historical information in a non-biased manner which allows the viewer/listener to draw their own conclusions and in a manner that is thoroughly entertaining.

This is just the best thing why why ? Has this guy not got a tv programme somebody on uk tv is truly missing a great opportunity

Magnificent content. Really glad to come across this channel.

This video is a masterpiece! The best resource for my classes at school at this time of the year! Thank you!

_"Death is coming, but it's not quite here yet."_ thank you for the fascinating video!

This video has taught me more about Halloween than all the documentaries and all the simpsons put together. Thank you

Perfect balance of information and fascinating speculation. Wonderful video!

Great job as always! Your series are very well done Jason. It is a great service we hope you continue providing. One can imagine the effort put into it, so we appreciate it!

Warlord is such a beautiful, mighty steed... Blessèd be /|\

Great video! I never thought about how special it would have been to spend the extra time or money, making or purchasing the candles, rush lights, or firewood to light up the night! It makes all the holidays around the world that are about lighting up the night feel more special to me.

I like the way you explain things about Halloween in a history lesson. Very interesting never heard it put quite this way before. Good video

gods i love this channel, thank you KZfaq algo for bringing it to my attention, this has been an incredible week

Very informative. I have to wonder if that poem is an earlier version of the song "Christmas is coming" where they go "Please to put the penny in the old man's hat/ If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do/ If you haven't got a ha'penny/ Then God bless you."

According to Lucy Worsley, Medieval people had a different sleep routine, waking up for some period of time in the middle of the night, every night, to kind of check on things & ward off ill spirits.

Very interesting. You brought out some aspects of Halloween I had never known. Thank you for that.

I need to start each of Jason's videos by liking them before watching. They are all excellent!

I've heard Bing Crosby sing the song with the pear and 'God bless you" in it from that old saying/song. Interesting how some things stick around for hundreds of years like that.

Thank you for this, I teach in an after school program, and one of the classes I teach is called “Celebrations From Around The World”, I shall share your video when we discuss Halloween and Samhain.

I’m sure medieval people knew that cobwebs came from spiders (even if they didn’t know why they all appeared at this time).

Love this stuff! My fave subject. So glad I found you. Thank you!😍🐎🎪🎃🏇🗡

Wonderful! Would you please consider doing an episode on how medieval people preserved their harvest?

Great camera work.

The atmosphere for this video was so well thought out

When you said "newly departed" the 2nd lantern went out.

So interesting :D I love your videos I wish they taught this in school :D

Excellent episode with interesting content as allways

Wonderful episode, thank you. I hope you have a great weekend.

A rhyme from my childhood, translated into English: This is the night, the night of nights, When the bodyless go about. And we keep open house tonight For any who may be out..

I did just stumble across your channel and I gotta say this is some amazing content right here ♥

love it! especially the sound of munching the grass

One of my all time favourite channels. JA

Maybe Halloween has so many different origins to its traditions for the same reason why Christmas has so many sources for its traditions. In the case of Christmas, mid-winter festivities are very necessary for human morale. It's no wonder that every place with a significant winter has midwinter celebrations. Maybe it's similar for Halloween? The harvest is done, the weather is quickly changing to get colder, it's daggone spooky!

I didn't realize that Halloween went back that far.

I love this channel so much! Interesting and informative, thank you!

Gorgeous video, thanks all. I particularly love fog.

I take the end of that poem to mean that they don't have anything to give either so they are also poor or under misfortune. As is often the case with these things...both are probably correct and it depends upon the person. That's why history is so awesome and definitely reminds you that we would be them if we were born when they were and they would be us if they were born now. Just humans being humans in each way that we can be. Great channel mate i'll try to link you out in some of the other history channels like: Metatron, Skallagrim, Lindybeige, Scholagladiatoria, etc. Maybe you guys could hook up one day for a video. It looks like you have quite the estate to look after yourself though so I am sure your time is tight. It does show that in order for you to even be able to provide this level of video and insight into things other than just arms and armor, it takes a lot of time, money, and effort. So thanks for the great videos.

Beautifully done . I've spent alot of time in the U.K . .... More time in Ireland as a B.H.S.I . and this video makes me so much miss Ireland and Europe ... I'm in Phoenix , Arizona right now and I may be a Gypsy but Arizona is where I shall choose to die . We have fog here as well but it's nothing as in the U. K. Love you work . You are a good man . Kindest Regards, Brooks Equine .

Also the Ancient Romans had a similar festivity: the Angeronalia, that was celebrated the 21 of Decembre in honor of Angerona (the Goddess of anguish) to exorcise the fears and the dangers of the winter. In fact Angerona has the same etimological root of the word anguish (angoscia in Italian): the world angustus (narrow) and the 21 December is the "narrowest" day of the year; like George Dumezil explains in his book: "Archaic Roman religion".

Ah yes, grass. Horses are natural eating machines! What a lovely video.

What a wonderful video to come back to

Was told as a youth that Halloween was originally pronounced All Hallows Eve

This is point in the year were death may stalk the land after harvest if you have not grown enough food to take you and your family through a harsh winter

Really wonderful.

Carved them into swedes?! Wait, is that as revenge for all the viking raids that happened? Hehe

Always entertaining and informative.

Thank you for all you do

12:00 it gets somewhat like that here in the midwest around late august .. I remember walking about early and the morning and doing some macro photography of spider webs covered in dew a few years ago at that time ..

I loved this video! Please make more on middle age holidays

Yes! this popped up as the next video after your last! Awesome 🥰🥰

Maybe “God bless you” in that context was just a polite goodbye, idk if it’s ever used this way in the UK but in the US some people say “God bless” as a farewell?

Enjoyed and learned. Thanks

Great video! Thank you!

Thank you for the information on the history of All Souls Day. I sang a piece years ago in university about soul cakes with the text you stated. It is very interesting to learn the background since most of us in the states only celebrate Halloween and not the days that follow.