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 What is Christmas?
The word 'Christmas' comes from the words 'Cristes maesse', or "Christ's Mass". Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus for followers of the Christian religion.
Most historians peg the first celebration of Christmas to Rome in 336 A.D. Christmas is both a holiday and a holy day. Why is Christmas sometimes spelled Xmas?
According to the book, "Did you ever wonder..." by Jeff Rovin, the word for Christ in Greek is Xristos. The use of the shortened form "Xmas" became popular in Europe in the 1500s.The word "Xmas" is so common in advertising, most likely, because "Xmas" and "sale" have the same number of letters, and "Xmas" is significantly shorter than Christmas. Why do people give each other presents on Christmas day?
The tradition of giving gifts seems to have started with the gifts that the wise men (the Magi) brought to Jesus. As recounted in the Bible's Book of Matthew, "On coming to the house they saw the child with his Mother Mary and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then, they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh".
However, no one was really in the habit of exchanging elaborate gifts until late in the 1800s.
The Santa Claus story, combined with an amazing retailing phenomenon called "ADVERTISEMENT" that has grown since the turn of the century, has made gift giving a central focus of the Christmas tradition.
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