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Is Halloween a Pagan Holiday?

...icle from atheist Tim O’Neill's "History for atheists" website: Is Halloween Pagan? - History for atheists. What about “Trick or Treat”, costumes and pumpkins? These aspects of the Hallowe’en festivities do have a mixed history, with some coming from the Christian tradition in the Middle Ages, to others being older, Irish folktales. Trick or treating comes from an old Middle Ages tradition called “Souling”, where children or poor families would go around knocking on people’s houses offering prayers for their departed (who were assumed to be in Purgatory), in exchange for “Soul cakes” – which were essentially doughnuts. This was common all...