Xmas: Ex or Chi?

X gets around. It shows up to cross out something on a list, to mark a spot on map, to indicate where to sign a document, to refer to a one’s divorced spouse, to stand for an unknown quality in an equation, to designate a certain generation, to represent a gender chromosome, and to prompt multiplication. And, it shows up in Xmas, an informal, some say sacrilegious, abbreviated substitute for Christmas. Only it doesn’t. That isn’t an ex in Xmas. What is it? It is a chi (kee). A chi is the 22nd letter of the New Testament’s Greek alphabet. I grew up being told that the ex in Xmas was the effort and evidence of the godless element of society’s plot to secularize and commercialize Christmas. They used Xmas to ex out Christ. Personally, I think people write Xmas, not because they’re antichrist, but because they’re lazy and it’s easier to write than Christmas. Whatever the reason for its usage, those who thought they were writing ex-mas, were really writing chi-mas. The confusion comes from the English ex and the Greek chi appearing the same--X. So, what does the X in Xmas stand for? The reason has to do with fish. Christ’s name in Greek begins with a chi, X. You may remember that Christians from the earliest times used the symbol of a fish covertly to indicate they were Christians. They used the symbol of the fish because in Greek fish is ixthus. Ixthus is an acronym for Jesus (I) Christ (X) God’s (Th) Son (U) Savior (S). So, there it is: The X stands for Christ. Sometime near the year 1000 AD, English copyists, noting that the English X and the Greek X looked the same, began to use X to refer to Christ. Then, in the 1400’s, monks began to refer to Christmas (a mass celebrating Christ’s death, burial, resurrection.) as Xmas. There was no nefarious intent to X out Christ. However, no matter its nature, origin, and initial usage, X in Xmas will still be an ex in the vernacular of the English-speaking populace. Ask anyone on the street and, “It’s an ex, Dude.” If my aim were to get people to accept X’s not an ex but a chi, I would be wasting time. So, X that idea. But there is a thought to contemplate: It is notably interesting that historically X symbolically meant Christ but has come to mean NO-Christ. Also, X can be used for Christ, and it can be used to designate vile filth as in “X-rated.” What people do with the X, they do with Christmas—and every other good thing. They can make it good, or they can make it evil. Whether money, sex, drugs, guns, food, just whatever, what matters is what is done with it. X can stand for Christ or getting rid of Christ. Christmas can be our opportunity to worship and celebrate God’s gift of a Savior. Or, it can be used as a time of carnal indulgence and selfish acquisition. Perhaps, you’ve never considered it before, but will X to you be an ex or a chi?

Xmas: Ex or Chi?

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