Why Christ-mas?

[luna-tic]

I know Christmas means different things to everyone but if Jesus was a Hebrew and at his birth the Christian faith was never heard of until not that long before his death then why do we call December 25th Christ-mas?

[Quizmonster]

It comes from Greek and Latin root-words. In earlier English, it was spelt �Cristes maesse'. The first part of the word is, obviously, 'Christ'...that is, Jesus. This comes from the Greek 'Christos', meaning 'the anointed one'.
The second part 'mas' is an abbreviated form of 'mass'. This word comes from the Latin 'missa', meaning 'sent away', the words said at the end to dismiss the congregation. In this sense, a mass is a religious service, such as those held in the Roman Catholic Church, at which the Lord's Supper is celebrated. It long ago took on the meaning of any church 'service'.
Christmas, therefore - when you put it all together - means "the service held to celebrate the birth of the anointed one, Christ."
As the actual date of His birth is obviously unknown - if He even existed at all! - the Fathers of the Church long ago just decided to tack it on to the festivities that were already celebrated at that time of year to acknowledge the start of days getting longer once more.

[luna-tic]

Thanks for the in-depth answer Quizzy.So aside from the word connection between messiah and Christ or Khristos there is no actual other reason why we should use Jesus' celebrity status for the 25th.It seems we like to concoct traditions/religions out of every other culture and then call it our own.

[mibn2cweus]

You mean Christ-myth?

Mithra was born of a virgin on 25 December, Coincidence?

Read about Mithras here and here

Christmyth

get out your pop-up blocker, tis the season
A brief history of Christmas

[luna-tic]

Thanks "mibn2cweus". The word "plagiarise" comes to mind.Why spoil a good story when you can steal it and pass it off as your own?