(food for thought)
[h=3]Etymology[/h]"Christmas" is a compound word originating in the term "
Christ's
Mass". It is derived from the
Middle English Cristemasse, which is from
Old English Crīstesmæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038[SUP]
[7][/SUP] followed by the word Cristes-messe in 1131.[SUP]
[40][/SUP]
Crīst (
genitive Crīstes) is from
Greek Khrīstos (Χριστός), a translation of
Hebrew Māšîaḥ (מָשִׁיחַ), "
Messiah", meaning "annointed";[SUP]
[41][/SUP][SUP]
[42][/SUP] and
mæsse is from Latin
missa, the celebration of the
Eucharist. The form "Christenmas" was also historically used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal;[SUP]
[43][/SUP] it derives from Middle English
Cristenmasse, literally "Christian mass".[SUP]
[44][/SUP] "
Xmas" is an abbreviation of
Christmas found particularly in print, based on the initial letter
chi (Χ) in Greek
Khrīstos (Χριστός), "Christ", though numerous
style guides discourage its use;[SUP]
[45][/SUP] it has precedent in Middle English
Χρ̄es masse (where "Χρ̄" is an abbreviation for Χριστός).
[SUP][44][/SUP]
[SUP]found here:
[/SUP][SUP]http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG7kzcRbBSIDkAhIJXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzdjZ0b2I1BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMgRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA1ZJUDMyMl8x/SIG=11qhq6hek/EXP=1387312732/**http%3a//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas[/SUP]
In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England shared radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. The ban by the Pilgrims was revoked in 1681 by English governor Sir Edmund Andros, however it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.[SUP][38][/SUP]
At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes.[SUP][74][/SUP] Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom.[SUP][75][/SUP] George Washington attacked Hessian (German) mercenaries on the day after Christmas during the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time.
In 1822,
Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem
A Visit From St. Nicholas (popularly known by its first line:
Twas the Night Before Christmas).[SUP]
[88][/SUP] The poem helped popularize the tradition of exchanging gifts, and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance.[SUP]
[89][/SUP] This also started the cultural conflict of the holiday's spiritualism and its
commercialism that some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850 book
The First Christmas in New England,
Harriet Beecher Stowe includes a character who complains that
the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping spree.[SUP]
[90][/SUP]
While the celebration of Christmas was not yet customary in some regions in the U.S.,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow detected "a transition state about Christmas here in New England" in 1856. "The old puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful, hearty holiday; though every year makes it more so."[SUP]
[91][/SUP] In
Reading, Pennsylvania, a newspaper remarked in 1861, "Even our presbyterian friends who have hitherto steadfastly ignored Christmas—threw open their church doors and assembled in force to celebrate the anniversary of the Savior's birth."[SUP]
[91][/SUP]
The First Congregational Church of Rockford,
Illinois, "although of genuine Puritan stock", was 'preparing for a grand Christmas jubilee', a news correspondent reported in 1864.[SUP]
[91][/SUP] By 1860, fourteen states including several from
New England had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday.[SUP]
[92][/SUP] In 1870, Christmas was formally declared a United States
Federal holiday, signed into law by President
Ulysses S. Grant.[SUP]
[92][/SUP] Subsequently, in 1875,
Louis Prang introduced the
Christmas card to Americans. He has been called the "father of the American Christmas card".[SUP]
[93][/SUP]
