Why do people use 'Xmas' instead of 'Christmas'?

First of all, you need to understand about the word Christmas - Christmas - which is compounded from two words, Christ and Mass. In which Christ (also transliterated as Christ) is the anointed One, the ancient Jews used this term to refer to the one sent by God to save God's people, understood in modern language as the Messiah. , only Jesus. And Mas stands for Mass, which means Mass.

Thus, Christmas means the holy day of Christ, just celebrating the day Jesus was born to redeem mankind, according to Christian belief.

Origin of spelling Xmas

But why do people use Xmas instead of Christmas, that is, replace Christ with just the letter X? The reason is that the English word Christ is derived from the Greek word Χριστός (pronounced Khrīstos) with a leading X. Therefore, writing Xmas is actually an abbreviation, using the first consonant of the Greek word Christ.

 Xmas appears as a widely used notation for Christmas.

Scholars are not sure when the word Xmas was used as an alternative to Christmas. However, documents show that the phrase began to be popular in the first century AD, with some scholars suggesting that it was popular as far back as the 13th century.

By the 15th century, Xmas appeared as a widely used symbol for Christmas. After Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1436, the church organized the printing of documents and theological books using this technology. At that time, the printing was done by hand, so it was very expensive. To minimize costs, people try to keep it short, and the word Xmas is used instead of Christmas in print.

After Xmas appeared in mainstream religious texts, this spelling became more and more popular.

What does 'Merry Christmas' mean?

Although Christmas celebrations date back to the fourth century, it was not until 1699 that the expression Merry Christmas appeared when a naval officer used it in an informal letter. The phrase appeared a second time in 1843 in Charles Dickens' work - 'Christmas Song'.

During Christmas, not only Christians but also most people send each other Merry Christmas wishes. In this phrase, Merry means joy. The meaning of the word Christmas is as explained above, but also means the sheep of God (Old English usage). The word Merry instills joy in people's hearts, a feeling of warmth and happiness because it is associated with Christmas.

Some people use the word Happy instead of Merry to wish each other on Christmas. The phrase Happy Christmas became popular around the world in the 19th century when it was used by Queen Elizabeth II herself.