A Brief History of Christmas

Christmas is the second most important celebration in the Christian Year, after Easter. It has been celebrated on December 25 since A.D. 336. This date, December 25 was fist placed in a liturgical calendar for the year 336. Of all the major Christian festivals, Christmas is the most recent in origin. The word Christmas can be traced back to the year 1038. The word Christmas is a contraction of “Christ’s Mass”. Dionysius Exiguus fixed Christmas at December 25. He also began the practice of dating event as B.C. and A.D. from the birth of Christ. Christmas is celebrated on December 25 to overshadow and replace the pagan merriment “Natalis Solis invicti” (birthday of the invincible sun) which marked the lengthening of days following the winter solstice. Some eastern churches use January 6 to commemorate the birth and baptism of Jesus. ter solstice. Some eastern churches use January 6 to commemorate the birth and baptism of Jesus. Christmas is not significant to Jews. During the early part of the fourth century, the Christians in Rome began celebrating the birth of Christ. The early Christians were more concerned about the exact date of the Second Coming than they were about the exact birth date of Jesus Christ. It was Saint Nicholas of Myra (the patron Saint of Children) who associated Santa Claus with Christmas. The word “merry” in Merry Christmas came from an Old English word meaning “blessed.” Xmas is the shortened version of the word Christmas. It ha been used since the 4th Century. The “X” represents the first letter of the Greek name for Christ (transliterated in the Roman alphabet as “Khristos”). The “mas” is a shortened form of the word “mass.” Therefore, the meaning of Xmas is “Mass of Christ.” There is some objection to the use of Xmas because it is not the full name of Christ which some believe should be used in the celebration of His birth, that is, Christmas instead of Xmas.