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EX mas

azhazhellfire	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 3:01 AM why do you say xmas instead of christmas? i've always thought it was just a shortening to save time + money on adverts and stuff. but i talked to this guy the other day and he says its because people are begginning to realise that christmas is supposed to be a celebration for christians, and people don't wanna lose christmas, so they expel the "christ" (jesus christ, for those people who live under rocks) and you got Xmas! the special time where corporations make mega-bucks and ordinary people waste money they don't have!! i think he may have been slightly overreacting, but he may have a point. why do you say xmas? btw, i raised the question with this guy because i've seen so many people shout "happy xmas" all over the site, but i havn't seen ONE person say christmas. they can't all be in such a huge rush.
TameasDust	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 3:09 AM I usually say christmas ... just vary it to xmas so i don't get in a rut
Little-Nemo	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 4:34 AM The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ," later shortened to "Christ-Mass." The even shorter form "Xmas" - first used in Europe in the 1500s - is derived from the Greek alphabet, in which X is the first letter of Christ's name: Xristos, therefore "X-Mass." http://www.didyouknow.cd/xmas/xmas.htm
mawcs	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 11:25 AM Hey, nemo, thanks for that. Same site I would have gone to. There are two Christmas celebrations. The pagan-derived commercial holiday and the Christian observance of Jesus' birth. Many people do not want to observe the birth of Christ, but want to keep their celebration. So, it's handy for them to have "xmas", it eases the guilt
shadeofblue	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 4:03 PM happy xmas.
Cryxan	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 4:17 PM I thought the use of the X was an abbreviation, similar to how how it's used on road signs, as in Cattle Xing, etc.
milladrive	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 4:18 PM This may come as surprise ot many of you, and I hate to be an iconoclast (no I don't), but the celebration that takes place at the beginning of winter, the one that the Scandinavians have long referred to as Yule, has been around for much longer than the world has known Christ. The original celebrations began to denote the end of the harvest and the birth of the new planting season. And as far as we know, Christ was born nowhere near December 25. http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/holidays/christmas/ http://www.holidays.net/christmas/story.htm
mawcs	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 4:19 PM that's what I meant by pagan-derived commercial holiday.
milladrive	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 4:41 PM Yeah, but... it wasn't originated by the Pagans, per se (altho they partook in it), and I'd hafta say the commercial holiday didn't begin until the advent of Madison Avenue. But okay.
invocati	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 4:50 PM I thought it was short for Christmas like you said.
Acumen	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 5:01 PM "god bless those pagans" -
sinai	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 6:12 PM yeah, back in the day the church realized the "boil em in oil if they don't immediatly convert" method was causing a big oil shortage, as well as pissing people off, so they figured by stealing the pagan holidays and juss cleverly renaming them, while holding most of the traditions, it would make converting people to christianity abit easier. they did the same thing to easter and halloween
azhazhellfire	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 6:40 PM nice one milla and nemo but in christianity, those things are irrelevant. nobody alive today has anything to do with the arseholes that destroyed other people's festivals. and whether or not Jesus was born on 25th of december is rather irrelevant. what matters is that we celebrate it
milladrive	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 7:02 PM Yes, that is true. ..but what each of us celebrates is very different. I, for instance, don't celebrate the birth of Christ, nor do I celebrate the end of the harvest, nor do I celebrate the retail explosion that is autumn. However, I like the pretty colors, the smell of pine, and the sound of music.
sinai	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 8:26 PM while i do celebrate Yule, i also celebrate christmas for my family, who am i too destroy a family tradition just because i developed new views
MickeyBreezy	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 10:42 PM i also thought it was like when they say Xing instead of crossing, u drop the cross so it works with christmas cuz of criss-cross n u pronounce it crissmas so it works
MickeyBreezy	Date: January 28, 2004 @ 10:42 PM also when u draw a "criss-cross" u usually draw an X
kredd	Date: January 29, 2004 @ 3:01 PM what about christians who celebrate christmas but don't believe its the birth of Christ? i always say christmas, but i write xmas. i'm lazy...

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