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What are considered pagan based holidays?
Only one pagan holiday is related to Halloween: Samhain. (although some may say "pagan new year" is the second, Samhain as a festival covers both days Oct 31st and November 1st) There are however two Roman holidays and three Christain holidays which have also been celebrated at that time of year. The first holiday of note is the ancient Celtic festival called "Samhain" which dates back over 2000 years. The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1st. They believed this marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter. Winter was associated with death and they believed that on the "eve of the new year" (October 31st) the world between the living and the dead became blurred. They believed otherwordly spirits came to damage their crops and cause trouble. The Celtic priests (or druids) built huge bonfires and offered sacrifices to Celtic deities, usually asking for help to survive the coming winters. The Celts wore costumes, usually consisting of animal heads and hides during the celebrations. Together, the eve and the day of the new year were Samhain. In AD 43 the Romans conquered the Celts and ruled Celtic lands for over 400 years. Two new holidays (Ferelia and Pomona) were combined with the traditional celebration of Samhain. Ferelia was a day commemorating the passing of the dead. Pomona honored the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. By moving these two holidays onto the same day as Samhain the Roman government believed it would be easier to incorporate the conquered Celts into their "more civilized" culture. So along with the Samhain costumes, festival goers would honor their past dead by giving gifts/sacrifices (for Ferelia) to honor the dead and celebrating with a feast of the last of summers fresh fruit to ask Pomona to return next spring (and let the trees grow again). Pomonas symbol was the apple; and somewhere along the line bobbing for apples became part of the celebration. By the 7th Century Christianity had spread into Celtic lands and Pope Boniface IV had designated November 1st as "All Saints Day"; which was a day of celebration to honor the saints and martyrs of the church. The celebrations often began the night before (October 31st) which quickly became known as "All Saints Eve". In AD 1000 the church named November 2nd as "All Souls Day". The three celebrations (Eve of All Saints, All Saints and All Souls day) were together known as Hallomas (or "The Hallowed Mass") a time for celebration while also contemplating the transitions between life and death and remembrance of those who gave their lives before us. Hallomas also existed outside of the regions where the older traditions of Samhain was popular and spread globally with the church beyond the reach of either Celtic or Roman influence. Different regions of the world adopted portions of Hallowmas depending on how well they were taught the churches traditions; often blended with portions from Samhain if the areas had any knowledge of Celtic or Roman history. Due to the word-of-mouth nature of teaching; the type of costumes, gifts and festivities were often quite different regionally and in many cases people were simply happy to have an excuse for a festival so over the centuries the holiday evolved very differently in each country and not often with accuracy to its original intent. By the 1900's all of these festivals had largely been dropped by official governments and were no longer being promoted by the church. Though there were small groups of people still passing along the stories and ideas which had grown up around the festivals and somehow a new tradition of pranking had become part of the story telling. On "All hallows Eve" (Oct 31st) it had become tradition for people to pass along ghost stories and go for walks in the dark. While they were out they would cause mischief and pull pranks (soaping windows, tipping over outhouses, etc) and the excuse or "joke" in the morning was to blame the ghosts who were coming for all souls day. In Anoka, Minnesota in 1921 the city officials were looking for ways to divert their youngsters from causing pranks and mischief. The city officials declared they would hold a parade and that everyone should "dress up" for the parade. Anyone who participated would be given "treats". Hundreds of bags of popcorn, candy, peanuts and other gifts were given away to everyone who marched in the parade. Afterwards everyone was invited to a large bonfire to dance and eat their treats. It is from the Anoka "Halloween" (weening the children off of Hallows Eve pranks) that the modern concept of Halloween has spread. In other cities, city officials asked that adults prepare small gifts of candy and treats and that instead of causing mischief on All Hallows Eve (and blaming the ghosts) children should instead walk around town asking for candy. The now ubiquitous inquiry "Trick or Treat" was born. Children now dress up and go around town asking to be paid off in treats or "they will trick you and blame the ghosts" for their mischief. So really; Halloween is a modern reaction to curbing children's enthusiasm for ghost stories and causing mischief. The date itself as a point of celebration can be traced back through many past holiday's, one of which happens to be pagan. Though the modern Halloween bears little resemblance to the intent of any of the religious (pagan or otherwise) holidays which were previously celebrated on Oct 31st.
Is Halloween a combination of two pagan holidays?
The Celtic culture celebrated All Hallow's Eve around the time we celebrate Halloween. The Celts believed that on that day, spirits could return to the Earth and walk among the living. All Hallow's was also the Celtic New Year celebration. In the Middle Ages, people would fear Hallow's Eve, believing that demons went out to hunt on that night. As the centuries went on, people again adopted the tradition of going out on Hallow's Eve, but took on the Old English tradition of dressing up to scare away evil spirits.
