Christmas vs Xmas

The name 'Christmas' comes from the Mass of Christ (or Jesus). A Mass service (which is sometimes called Communion or Eucharist) is where Christians remember that Jesus died for us and then came back to life. The 'Christ-Mass' service was the only one that was allowed to take place after sunset, so people had it at Midnight! So we get the name Christ-Mass, shortened to Christmas.

Christmas is also sometimes called Xmas. Some people don't think it's correct to call Christmas 'Xmas' as that takes the 'Christ' (Jesus) out of Christmas. But that is not quite right! In the Greek language and alphabet, the letter that looks like an X is pronounced 'Christos' and means 'Christ'!

The symbol of a fish is sometimes used by Christians (you might see a fish sticker on a car or someone wearing a little fish badge). This comes from the time when the first Christians had to meet in secret, as the Romans wanted to kill them (before Emperor Constantine became a Christian). Jesus had said that he wanted to make his followers 'Fishers of Men', so people started to use that symbol.

When two Christians met, one person drew half a basic fish shape (often using their foot in the dust on the ground) and the other person drew the other half of the fish. The Greek word for fish is 'Ikthus' or 'Ichthys'. There are five Greek letters in the word. It can also make up a sentence of Christian beliefs 'Ie-sous Christos Theou Huios So-te-r' which in English means "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour". The second letter of these five letter is X or Christos!

So Xmas can also mean Christmas!

Season of Christmas~

It's also quite likely that Jesus wasn't born in the winter but in the spring! It can get very cold in the winter in Israel and it is thought that the Roman census that made Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem would have most likely taken place during the spring at the time of the Jewish Passover festival (which normally takes during March or April). At this festival many pilgrims, from all over the country, came to visit Jerusalem (which is about six miles from Bethlehem).

Also during the winter, it's less likely that the shepherds would have been keeping sheep out on the hills (as those hills can get quite a lot of snow sometimes!); but lots of lambs would have been needed during the Passover Festival, to be sacrified in the Temple in Jerusalem.

So whenever you celebrate Christmas, remember that you're celebrating a real event that happened about 2000 years ago, that God sent his Son into the world as a Christmas present for everyone!