X-Mas

puggymom

puggymom

Active Member
I wsd reading a debate on Facebook about how the term Xmas is the new Happy Holidays...just a way for secularists and consumerism to remove Christ from Christmas.
I am non-religious (call me agnostic if you need a term) but I always thought if Xmas AS religious. I thought it was common knowledge that the term was religious.
 
PsyOps

PsyOps

Pixelated
This made me actually want to look up the origin of 'Xmas':

Wiki - take it for what it's worth. But I found it interesting.

Xmas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas . It is sometimes pronounced /ˈɛksməs/, but it, and variants such as Xtemass, originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation /ˈkrɪsməs/. The "-mas" part is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass, while the "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός which comes into English as "Christ".

There is a common misconception that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas", but its use dates back to the 16th century."
 
puggymom

puggymom

Active Member
Sone of the people in the debate are stating this. I was just wondering why or if people even believe this is a secular term. I knew if was religious though I fid not know specifics.
 
PsyOps

PsyOps

Pixelated
puggymom said:
Sone of the people in the debate are stating this. I was just wondering why or if people even believe this is a secular term. I knew if was religious though I fid not know specifics.
Click to expand...

I have no doubt in my mind the anti-Christmas crowd will use whatever they can to eliminate Christmas as a religious holiday.
 
Larry Gude

Larry Gude

Strung Out
puggymom said:
...but I always thought if Xmas AS religious. I thought it was common knowledge that the term was religious.
Click to expand...

Really? I remember wondering if Santa Claus was god.

Is there a more confusing message than mixing the celebration of the birth of Christ with Santa Claus and flying reindeer and humanly impossible feats like slipping down a chimney while it is in use carrying an enormous sack of goodies and nothing catches fire and giving one another gifts as though it's our birthday? I mean, it's just crazy in the disconnect. It's like, I dunno, memorializing someones death and resurrection with, pick something weird, like, oh, a rabbit or something...one that lays eggs.

The FIRST time I thought of Christmas as a purely religious event was a midnight mass I went to at an Orthodox church. Made me think of crucifixion.
 
puggymom

puggymom

Active Member
Larry Gude said:
Really? I remember wondering if Santa Claus was god.

Is there a more confusing message than mixing the celebration of the birth of Christ with Santa Claus and flying reindeer and humanly impossible feats like slipping down a chimney while it is in use carrying an enormous sack of goodies and nothing catches fire and giving one another gifts as though it's our birthday? I mean, it's just crazy in the disconnect. It's like, I dunno, memorializing someones death and resurrection with, pick something weird, like, oh, a rabbit or something...one that lays eggs.

The FIRST time I thought of Christmas as a purely religious event was a midnight mass I went to at an Orthodox church. Made me think of crucifixion.
Click to expand...

Let me clatify... from the time i was old enough to start to think for myself I have always believed the specific word Xmas stemmed from something to do with religion. When I first heard the word I was taught to think X (cross) mas.
 
hotcoffee

hotcoffee

New Member
I'm surprised no one googled "where did Xmas come from".

According to this article... It came from the Emperor Constantine who was a convert. It's the Greek letter "Chi".

In another article I found this.

#But it turns out that "Xmas"# isn't a modern convention at all. It was used commonly in 16th-century Europe, when many people began using the term "Christos," the Greek translation for Christ, to refer to Jesus. The letter chi in the Greek alphabet is symbolized by an X and translates to "ch." So along with the Greek letter rho for "r", the term Xmas was used to refer to the birth of Jesus as an informed abbreviation, not an offensive one. Xmas was a way for Christian scholars to refer to Jesus respectfully in an ancient language -- not to disrespect his name with a harsh symbol. In fact, variations of "Xmas" date back to 1021 [source: BBC.com].

Now neither of these sources are my regular places to ask these questions. But hey.... they both take the hatefulness out of the argument for taking the name Christ out of Christmas, so I guess I'm good with it....

I'm still not going to use the X myself....

:coffee:
 
puggymom

puggymom

Active Member
hotcoffee said:
I'm surprised no one googled "where did Xmas come from".

According to this article... It came from the Emperor Constantine who was a convert. It's the Greek letter "Chi".

In another article I found this.

#But it turns out that "Xmas"# isn't a modern convention at all. It was used commonly in 16th-century Europe, when many people began using the term "Christos," the Greek translation for Christ, to refer to Jesus. The letter chi in the Greek alphabet is symbolized by an X and translates to "ch." So along with the Greek letter rho for "r", the term Xmas was used to refer to the birth of Jesus as an informed abbreviation, not an offensive one. Xmas was a way for Christian scholars to refer to Jesus respectfully in an ancient language -- not to disrespect his name with a harsh symbol. In fact, variations of "Xmas" date back to 1021 [source: BBC.com].

Now neither of these sources are my regular places to ask these questions. But hey.... they both take the hatefulness out of the argument for taking the name Christ out of Christmas, so I guess I'm good with it....

I'm still not going to use the X myself....

:coffee:
Click to expand...

I knew it was religiously based just not the specifics.
What I was wondering about was the debate on FB that a lot of people had, despite being given similar information, that it was still wrong and 'taking Christ out'. They still believed and argued that it was a secularist attack on Christmas. I was just curious as I always knew it to be religious based, even if I did not the specifics of it.
 
Zguy28

Zguy28

New Member
hotcoffee said:
I'm surprised no one googled "where did Xmas come from".

According to this article... It came from the Emperor Constantine who was a convert. It's the Greek letter "Chi".

In another article I found this.

#But it turns out that "Xmas"# isn't a modern convention at all. It was used commonly in 16th-century Europe, when many people began using the term "Christos," the Greek translation for Christ, to refer to Jesus. The letter chi in the Greek alphabet is symbolized by an X and translates to "ch." So along with the Greek letter rho for "r", the term Xmas was used to refer to the birth of Jesus as an informed abbreviation, not an offensive one. Xmas was a way for Christian scholars to refer to Jesus respectfully in an ancient language -- not to disrespect his name with a harsh symbol. In fact, variations of "Xmas" date back to 1021 [source: BBC.com].

Now neither of these sources are my regular places to ask these questions. But hey.... they both take the hatefulness out of the argument for taking the name Christ out of Christmas, so I guess I'm good with it....

I'm still not going to use the X myself....

:coffee:
Click to expand...
When I was growing up we never used it verbally, only in writing, like on boxes and stuff to save space.
 
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