Blackcat

I'm afraid it's extremely unlikely that there's anything pre-Christian about the Souling song, apart from the general belief in the temporary return of the dead at this time of year. It's perfectly possible, however, that the tune (the one used by the Watersons, that is, not the more elaborate version on the DT database, which I assume is from the Peter Paul & Mary version and which sounds to me like a hybrid of "Hey Ho" and "Soulcake" ) might be very old indeed. A.L. Lloyd wrote in "Folk Song In England":

The most primitive tunes in Europe are very tightly restricted in range -two tones within the compass of a second, three within the compass of a third. Usually, melodies of such tiny ambitus belong to folk ritual music, to lullabies, or to the self-made repertory of children."

He used the trichord "Soulcake" tune as an example. While there is no evidence that there are -or ever were- any "older" (i.e. pagan) lyrics for the "one for Peter..." line, I am reminded of a charm which a Linconshire clergyman claimed to have heard in his (mid-19th century) boyhood:

"Thrice I smites with Holy Crock
With this mell I thrice do knock
One for God, and one for Wod
And one for Lok."

Some scholars took that pretty seriously at the time, but he was so vague about it that we can't be sure it was authentic.

Malcolm