It's CHRISTMAS people, not XMAS...

[MILAMBER]

Originally posted by Cloudbringer: quote: Originally posted by MILAMBER: I type xmas all the time because its faster. I don't see myself changing any time too soon, so I'll apologize in advance to those who have X-cessive sensibilities.

No problem M-ber. [/QUOTE]

[Lord of Alcohol]

xmas xmas xmas na na na na na [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[HolyWarrior]

Originally posted by Sazerac: Not to mention when typing in forums, it's easier. Melusine is absolutely correct about the "X" representing the Greek letter "Chi". In ancient times, the early Christians would mark an X (Chi) to designate who they were to avoid being persecuted by the Romans. This is also how the "Fish" symbol came to be: if two people met and wanted to determine if the other was Christian, one would draw the top half of the fish in the sand. If the other person completed the drawing, they would recognize each other as Christian. Such things had to be done secretly, since back then Christianity was outlawed. There is certainly no shame nor disrespect in using the "X" in place of "Christ" in Christmas. -Sazerac P.S. Sorry, Cloudy, but here I do disagree with you. Respectfully, of course, m'dear.

The fish symbol came about as a Greek anagram. The phrase "Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior", in Greek, forms the anagram "ichthys", the Greek word for fish.

[antryg]

I knew about the "X" and "fish" as well. If everyone is real nice (and bored) I'll explain why Christmas is celebrated when it is. Come on people, don't make me waste a $45,000 dollar education.

[Lord Lothar]

Originally posted by antryg: I knew about the "X" and "fish" as well. If everyone is real nice (and bored) I'll explain why Christmas is celebrated when it is. Come on people, don't make me waste a $45,000 dollar education.

Please antryg explain to the masses why Christmas is celebrated when it is.

[SomeGuy]

Some people may not celebrate Christmas(notice the word Christ in it)becuz they are'nt christain,so instead of calling it Christmas they call it Xmas.Catch my drift?

[antryg]

I'm glad you asked Lord Lothar.
The story begins in the 1st century AD in a time before the sacred writings of Christianity were formalized. Most of the Christian groups were spread apart and relied upon a copy of an apostolic letter and maybe one of the gospel accounts. At this time Easter was the only sacred day that was universally celebrated by Christian groups but the celbration of Easter was not observed consistently by differing groups. The birth of Christ was recognized but not celebrated.
Easter was celebrated by most groups as a variable date, being tied to the celbration of Passover. One group, the Quatro Decimanians celebrated Easter on March 25th. This was based on the actual date for Passover in the year in which Jesus was crucified.
Later on, groups of Christians began to celebrate the birth of Jesus. How do you decide which date to use? Eastern philosophy views time and events as being circular while Greek (Western) philosophy sees time/events as linear. In Eastern view important events are symbolically linked (ie beginning of life/ death occur on the same date). At this time life was believed to begin at conception. Thus conception occured on March 25 (date of the death of Christ) and birth was 9 months later(December 25th). The Quatro Decimanians lost the debate on when to celebrate Easter (it's still tied to Passover) but their groundbreaking work resulted in us having Christmas on December 25th.

[antryg]

Originally posted by SomeGuy: Some people may not celebrate Christmas(notice the word Christ in it)becuz they are'nt christain,so instead of calling it Christmas they call it Xmas.Catch my drift?

You can't change the name of an event just because you don't agree with it. If that were the case I could call Saturday "Someguyday" because I don't believe in Roman gods.

[Lord Lothar]

Interesting piece of information there antryg. I didn't have a clue as to why Christmas was celebrated on the 25th. How did you come about with those facts?

[TheCrimsomBlade]

The world is in the crapper and we'll be lucky to see the year 2010, and what are we sweating about? somebody tossed crist out the window and replaced him with an "X"! So what, did you ask anybody to get you something for Christmas ("Xmas") because you were a good boy or girl this year? if you did then you have no right to complain that somebody took Christ out of christmas and replaced it with an "X" because WE TOOK CHRIST OUT OF CHRISTMAS AND NAILED HIS ASS TO A CROSS then in his name we ask Mommy and Daddy to buy us the world and stick it under a TREE. YEAH THAT IS XMAS.
Christmas is inside each of us trying to get out, but we think if we wrap it up in fancy paper and put a bow on it that we are celebrating it WRONG.
YOU figure it out.