Christmass
Christmass (Christ's Mass) is the season that begins on Christmass Day (December 25) and lasts for 12 days (hence the title of the popular Christmass song, "The Twelve Days of Christmass"), until January 5, the eve of Epiphany (known as "Twelfth Night").
The Christmass observance developed relatively late in the history of the church as early Christians considered the celebration of the Resurrection at Easter, to be far more important, and both Jesus' birth and baptism were celebrated on Epiphany, January 6.
In the fourth century, Roman Christians appropriated a pagan festival honouring Sol Invictus (The Unconquered Sun) which was celebrated on December 25, the date of the winter solstice. On this the shortest day of the year, the Roman pagans hailed the "rebirth" of the sun, which from that day forward would increasingly rule the day.
Christians saw an obvious parallel with the "Sun of Righteousness," a prophetic name for the Messiah. (Because of errors in the ancient secular calendar, the winter solstice occurs now on December 21).
The word "Christmass" is a contraction of "Christ Mass," the name given to the service for the day on which we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Christmass is a season of great joy and is marked by reading the story of Jesus' birth, singing carols, and by giving gifts after the pattern of God's greatest gift to us Jesus, his Son.
The corruption Xmas derives from the fact that the Greek letter for 'Ch' (the first two letters of 'Christ') is 'X' (chi) but the use of this corruption of the word Christmass should not be encouraged.
Many of the popular customs of the Christmass season, such as the Christmass tree, the Yule log, and the Christmass wreath, all have their origin in pagan observances and were slowly adopted and given new significance by Christians.
