Sunday, December 20, 2009

Why is Christmas sometimes spelt "X-mas"?

Hi, there, Labor students!
A quiz for you (no points to give away this time, though, sorry!).
As you know Christmas is an annual Christian holiday, celebrated on December 25th, that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth: Christmas day is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and in Christianity marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days, until Epiphany, that is, the arrival  of the 3 Magi on January 6th.

Maybe you have seen the word Christmas written as X-mas. Your task it to find an explanation for that spelling. What does it mean? What is its origin? Why, why, why? (And, no, sorry, it has nothing to do with the X-Men, although Jesus did have superpowers)
Leave a comment with your answer at the section "Comentarios" which you will find right at the end of this post.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational purposes only.

2 comments:

  1. The abbreviation Xmas dates from the 16th century. The "X" represents the Greek letter "chi" (meaning Christ)
    This word was used in religious writing for many years.
    Nowadays, it is used only in informal writing and on advertisements.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's brilliant, Cristina. Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete

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