Why do we say Merry Xmas and not Happy Xmas just like other festivals/day's of celebrations?

Question

Why do we say Merry Xmas and not Happy Xmas just like other festivals/day's of celebrations?

Answer 1

It's because we celebrate it Merrily.

Answer 2

Though both expressions are used even in the US, other English speaking parts of the world use Happy Christmas such as England (they use either) and India (I know English is not a native language in India but English is spoken commonly). However, I think there are a few possible explanations as to why we tend to use "merry" more commonly in American English.

First is that "Merry Christmas" stems from England however the word merry (from middle English merrie) was slightly more subdued in meaning, like pleasant, not "really joyous." At some point in England "happy" may have been substituted to give it a bit more emphasis. After all, both words now have synonymous meanings (happy and merry).

Another thought would be that the first Christmas cards were printed in about 1850 or 1860 (can't recall the guys name that first printed Christmas cards). Before that they were all hand made. Anyway, his cards read, "Merry Christmas" on the front and that may have lead to it being the more popular expression.

Finally, English avoids too much repetition and since we often say Merry Christmas along with Happy New Year, it's less redundant sounding if we use a synonym for "happy" with the word Christmas.

These are just my own musings.

Answer 3

I would guess that we use "merry" because that is the traditional American Christmas greeting, and Christmas especially is a time when we stick to traditions. It seems to be a highly conservative holiday in that respect. Easter, Fourth of July, and birthdays are much more open to variation. But at Christmas we trot out the same old carols everyone has been singing for hundreds of years, the same basic decorative motifs, old recipes that have been handed down for generations, etc. Perhaps because it is so associated with family and family traditions, it becomes a time when heritage is more important than innovation, and so we tend to look backwards in time rather than forwards.


But it also depends on where you're from. There are many countries that DO say Happy Christmas.

Answer 4

Merry Christmas is a USA thing... every where else it is Happy Christmas. Kinda like our Santa being in a red suit. It's all about commericalism. Some Yahoo, came up with a slogan that said Merry Christmas, thus the term was born.

Answer 5

People are too shy to say the word Happy. Just in case they jinx it and it turns out unhappy. so they say merry instead. Merry is a word that rymes with sherry which of course santa has before he starts his deliveries :)
Merry Xmas from Santa :)

Answer 6

i love endings that are recommend even if. Examples: satisfied: Harry Potter- each and each man or woman grew up and replaced into once equipped to bypass on which made all the soreness well worth at the same time as, and also you said basically how wise Harry had end up unhappy: the position the pink fern grows- not some thing someone would say would ever scratch the affection between that boy and those canines. That tale meant some thing to me.

Answer 7

Say Happy Xmas if ya want. Start a new one

Answer 8

We say Merry Christmas. Put Christ back in Christmas

Answer 9

Because of the poem, "The Night Before Christmas".

Answer 10

I think somebody changed it to "Merry" on Wikipedia, and everybody has just understood that to be the right way to say it.

Answer 11

do you actually say 'xmas' or christmas, because ud be pretty rétarded if you do. but they say merry because it sounds better, and probably has more historical significance