Nicholas Henshall’s piece on celebrating All Saints and All Souls (Parish Practice, 2 November) was generally very good but it was spoilt for me by his including the “pagan day of the dead” myth. There is  no historical evidence that 1 November was any such thing, nor is there any evidence that the date was chosen to trump a pagan celebration. The inauguration of All Saints in the eighth century pre-dates the earliest mention of a pagan event on 31 October by 300 years. T