Sorry 'Villan': It's a "Soal" cake - not a 'soul' cake. A-Soalin' was a yuletide (Christmas) tradition and dates from long before the Elizabethan era. It has NOTHING what-so-ever to do with the tradition of Hallowe'en.

The Elizabethan 'round'reported by "Jacob B" is in fact one of the earliest written examples of the song. It was a chant / round / song sung long before those times. Oral tradition (from a mate in Britain who is really big on this stuff) has it that the tradition of going 'A-Soalin' is probably almost as old as 'Shrove-ball'.

SHROVE-BALL - the tradition of playing "street football" between the two opposing elements of a single town where everybody who was fit and able played - generally teams were called the "Uppies and the Downies" or the "Uppers and Downers", "Upp'ns and Down'ns", "Northers and Southers" and so on. Games were begun at around mid-afternoon and went until sunset and there were no rules - though around the late 1700's and onwards, weapons were somewhat frowned upon. Prior to this time it was not uncommon for a contestant to be stabbed (occasionally fatally) by an opposition player to gain posession of the ball.
The idea was to get the ball to a "goal beyond the territory of the opposition (in the case of Workington in Cumbria; that meant the "Uppies" had to strike the ball against a large capstan on the town wharf while the "Downies" attempted to strike it against the wall of the city park).
Oral traditions have 'Shroveball' being played in Workington since before the arrival of the Vikings in the 10th Century. Shroveball is played - depending on the town involved, is played on either Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day), Easter Saturday , Monday or Tuesday - NEVER, of course on Good Friday or Easter Sunday.

Soalin' was another 'one-day-a-year' tradition and generally occurring around (from recollection) Boxing Day or Christmas Eve - again it depended on the town / parish / county, etc.
On this day (evening) the less fortunate of the town would go from door-to-door to ask for comfits from the larders / purses etc of the more fortunate townsfolk. It was considered VERY bad form (even to the extent of being cursed by The Lord) to turn away one who was 'A-Soalin' empty-handed.

The Peter, Paul and Mary version is a more modern rendering of the traditional 'Soalin' song - sort of like the treatment Steeleye Span,Fairport Convention, Martin Carthy etc give to traditional English Folk songs - to "contemporise" them.

Hope this helps

Muttley