Monday, December 25, 2006

Christmas - Is HE In It?

It never bothered me till a couple of years back, what Xmas really meant.

Though i'm a person who rarely use shorthand writing, it never occur to me what it meant till my lecturer told us students what it really means.

"To celebrate Xmas is to celebrate Christmas without Christ in it. It's the commercial way of celebrating it," said the lecturer to us.

Well, it sort of made sense there, i thought to myself.

But wishes came by in forms of e-mails and text messages saying "Merry Xmas" and "Have a Great Xmas". I do tell them what my lecturer's logic to them. So excepted it whole-heartedly, while others argued, stating it is a short form and refuse to budge.

So recently, i decided to check out the real meaning behind Xmas and was i shocked to discover what the fuss was about:

"Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where the X represents a Greek chi, the first letter of Χριστος, “Christ.” In this use it is parallel to other forms like Xtian, “Christian.” But people unaware of the Greek origin of this X often mistakenly interpret Xmas as an informal shortening pronounced (ĕks'məs). Many therefore frown upon the term Xmas because it seems to them a commercial convenience that omits Christ from Christmas."


Taken from answers.com

So, i guess most of those who believe that Xmas was short of Christmas was true. But then again, i bet 9 out of 10 doesn't know the Greek origin of X, and believes it was just an English shortform. Many will just say, "Ya ke?" Hence, knowing is half the battle, forfeiting the fact that ignorance is bliss.

But there are a few articles stating that it's okay to use the Greek word 'chi'. Click HERE and HERE to read more about the information.

I guess there are two groups of schools here - those who opposes the usage of Xmas, and those who accepts it.

But to me, Christmas isn't about the fat dude travelling from the North Pole, delivering presents to good kids and coal to bad ones. To me, it's about giving and forgiving. To be more specific, it's about the birth of Jesus Christ, who came down to earth to die for our sins so that we may have eternal life - He's the reason for the season.

Well, which ever group you belong to, i would like to wish you all a Blessed Christmas!


Love & Peace!~

BC?

1 comment:

However said...

Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to you BluChu! Have a wonderful time!