I know several people that get pretty upset when they see Christmas written as X-mas. At first glance, who can blame them. It seems irreverent. And this irreverence seems to go hand-in-hand with the total commercialization of the holiday. Today, as well as in the past, the word Christmas is often shortened to save space and, yes, to leave out the word Christ. But there is some irony in writing X-mas to accomplish those tasks. Let me explain.
X-mas is hardly a new word or an irreverent one. The use of the word actually dates back to the Greeks during the Roman Empire. The Greek name for Christ is Xristos (pronounced Christos). Therefore, many Greeks used the "X" symbol as a symbol of their faith. When the Greek Christians were put to death in Rome's Colosseum, other Christians often traced an X at the spot where the martyr had given his life, a symbol of ultimate devotion and sacrifice.
In the mid-1800's, when Christmas started to evolve as a holiday and to have commercial significance, retailers started to use the X as a shortcut to save space and to use a symbol instead of letters due to the fact that several Americans at the time could not read. It was much easier for them to understand the meaning of X-mas than to grasp a lengthy word such as Christmas.
Today, if an ancient Greek citizen could visit our world and saw the symbol "X" used in the place of the word "Christ" in the word "Christmas", they would instantly understand that the word X-mas was the ultimate symbol for a wonderful and powerful meaning far beyond what is expressed in our current society when we utter the words "Merry Christmas".
Ahh, there is great irony in writing the word X-mas!
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