Why is Christmas also known as X'mas ?

Answer 1

Xmas" and "X-mas" are common abbreviations of the word "Christmas". They are sometimes pronounced "eksmas", but they, and variants such as "Xtemass", originated as handwriting abbreviations for the pronunciation "Christmas". The "-mas" part came from the Anglo-Saxon for "festival", "religious event": Crīstesmæsse or Crīstemæsse. This abbreviation is widely but not universally accepted; some view it as demeaning to Christ, whilst others find it a helpful abbreviation.

The word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as 1021 AD. This X and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ and ρ), used in ancient abbreviations for "Christ", and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ.

Some people believe that the term is part of an effort to "take Christ out of Christmas" or to literally "cross out Christ"; it is also seen as evidence of the secularization of Christmas, as a symptom of the commercialization of the holiday (as the abbreviation has long been used by retailers). It may also be used as a vehicle to be more inclusive, see political correctness.

The occasionally felt belief that the "X" represents the cross Christ was crucified on has no basis in fact; regardless, St Andrew's Cross is X-shaped, but Christ's cross was probably shaped like a T or a †. Indeed, X-as-chi was associated with Christ long before X-as-cross could be, since the cross as a Christian symbol developed later. (The Greek letter Chi Χ stood for "Christ") While some see the spelling of Christmas as Xmas a threat, others see it as a way to honor the martyrs. The use of X as an abbreviation for "cross" in modern abbreviated writing (e.g. "Kings X" for "Kings Cross") may have reinforced this assumption.-

Answer 2

All those people who get offended at the abberviation "Xmas" don't know what they are talking about. It isn't some "new" abbreviation, and it isn't an attempt to "take Christ" out of Christmas.

From Wikipedia...

"Christmas is sometimes shortened to Xmas, an abbreviation that has a long history.[4] In early Greek versions of the New Testament, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ (Χριστός). Since the mid-sixteenth century Χ, or the similar Roman letter X, was used as an abbreviation for Christ"

Answer 3

Hello... =)

Regardless of its origins:

"Xmas" became an abbreviation more commonly used since the advent of the keyboard. We have no key that has the symbol of the Cross on it, you see. The closest we have is the X, which, if you tilt your head slightly to the left, looks a bit like a cross.

It is in no way meant as an insult to Christ, Christians, Christmas, God, The Holy Spirit, or anyone else. It is merely an abbreviation.

For those who think that abbreviations are inappropriate, in regards to religion, why don't they get upset over B.C. and A.D.?? Or the fact that we usually don't use anything after the year at all anymore?? What year is it?? Well, it's 2006!! Not "the year of Our Lord, 2006" or "Two Thousand and Six, Anno Domini".

Heck, even the Term "Christmas" is an abbreviation for "The Feast of Christmas"....is that offensive??

We don't use the name of God, either, except for Jehovah's Witnesses, not because he doesn't like to hear his name, but because it's just easier to say "God"..... Hallelujah is actually an abbreviated contraction for "Praise be to God in the Highest".....
Is that offensive??

Oh my....people get offended over the silliest things, and they're usually Christians....

Namaste,

--Tom

Answer 4

Because people are too lazy to spell Christmas. They just put X'mas on stuff.

Answer 5

I'm not 100% certain, but I think it is just an abbreviation of Christmas. However, X is actually the Greek letter Chi, which, in ancient times stood for Christos (Christ), so it is not disrespectful in any way. The symbol of Christ in the early church (along with the fish symbol) was X and P. P is the Greek letter Rho, which is the second letter in Christos.

Answer 6

The "X" in yuletide is from the Greek letter Chi, it relatively is the 1st letter of ???????, Christ in Greek mas is for mass.... Get it, it has no longer something to do with satanic christ haters or atheists, christians cal it that too, it quite is like b-day, whilst people wanna shorten issues that's what they do.... get it? have been given it? good.

Answer 7

Mr. Sporadic got it right. Congratulations and Merry Christmas.

Answer 8

The word X-Mas was created by non-Christians. Removing the word Christ from the holiday made them feel less hypocritical, allowing them to be merry for any other reason they could think of.

Answer 9

X is short form for name of Christ or as it falls end of year it represents alphabatical order A-Z.I guess so..

Answer 10

In ancient times, the greek symbol X was used to represent "Christ"., We use it today because, It's shorthand, easier to write.