The English word
"Halloween" comes from the Scottish word "
Allhallowmas" as an earlier name of "
All Saint's Day" and "
even" being "
eve" is in the "
evening before".
Christmas Eve is the evening before Christmas day.
New Year's Eve is the evening before New Years day.
The English word
"hallow" comes from the Middle English word
"halwe" ≈ "saint, holy thing" which comes from the Old English word
"halga" ≈ "holy one, saint". It is related to the German word
"Heilige" ≈ "saint".
It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions originated from ancient Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain; that such festivals may have had pagan roots; and that Samhain itself was Christianized as Halloween by the early Church. (Wikipedia)
A witch appears in the Bible in the story of the witch of Endor.
