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While the official holiday lands on December 25, people often use the term to refer to the general season of festivities in December.
The word “Christmas” is a combination of the phrase “Christ’s mass.” Jesus is often referred to as Christ, the Greek word for the Hebrew term “Messiah,” which means “anointed one.” In Middle English, “Christenmas” or “Christian mass” also would have been used. “Christmas” is often abbreviated as “Xmas,” which traces back to “X” as an ancient symbol for Christ, stemming from the Greek letter chi being written as X.
The “X” in “Xmas” comes from the Greek letter Chi (χchi𝜒), the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Christos (Χριστός). Early Christians used this abbreviation, along with the Chi-Rho symbol (XP), as a sacred shorthand for Jesus Christ, making “Xmas” an old, religiously significant way to say Christmas, not a secular removal of Christ.
Media Release/Word Smarts
