A MUSEUM will be revealing the history of trick or treating through the tradition of soul cakes.

Baking soul cakes for All Hallow’s Eve stretches back to the middle ages and continued up until the 1930s.

Ripon’s Workhouse Museum is baking the cakes this October to tell the story of the tradition.

Soul cakes would have been given out to ‘soulers’ – mostly children and the poor who went from door to door singing and saying prayers for the souls of the givers and their friends.

Traditionally each cake eaten would represent a soul being freed from Purgatory.

This October half-term the traditional soul cake recipe has been dusted down and visitors will be able to try their hand at baking in the workhouse’s traditional cooking range. Soul cakes and breads were often made by drawing a cross shape into the dough before baking, to show that they were alms for the dead.

There will be crafts and games, plus a Punch and Judy show on Tuesday and Thursday, with storytime on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

There will also be a Fright Night on Friday from 5pm to 7pm - enjoy party games with Wendy the Witch, brave the ghosts and ghouls in the Corridor of Terror and finish off with some spooky stories and creepy crafts, £2.50 a ticket.

For more information visit www.riponmuseums.co.uk, call 01765-690799, email admin@riponmuseums.co.uk or visit our Facebook page at Ripon Museums. Ripon Workhouse Museum, Sharow View, Allhallowgate, Ripon HG4 1LE.