Of which this ancient carving is an example. Those are, of course, the first two letters of Christos, when written in Greek. Discerning the meaning of the Alpha and Omega in the carving is left as an exercise to the student.
I'm in Ireland, and when I was a child and my late departed mam would see X-mas she would do her nut!
She said to me as a child..'X-mas...X is the sign of the divil. Never, ever send me a card with X-mas on it!'
From that day to this, I've never written 'Happy X-mas on a card'.
In fact I hate it.
If it bothers you, don't use it. But the fact is the origin of X-mas is not from the devil.
"X" is the Greek symbol for Christ.
I generally don't use it because people don't recognize that. Not because it "takes Christ out of Christmas."
She said to me as a child..'X-mas...X is the sign of the divil. Never, ever send me a card with X-mas on it!'
Hmmm... I'm part of an Irish Catholic American family... my mother always said the same thing about "X-mas": It's the sign of the divil! ;-)
Like you - to this day - I don't even use the word X-mas for an informal abbreviation, ie. when writing up a list of Christmas gifts, etc... I've been programmed not to use that word, LOL.
I too will never write X-mas!
Of which this ancient carving is an example. Those are, of course, the first two letters of Christos, when written in Greek. Discerning the meaning of the Alpha and Omega in the carving is left as an exercise to the student.
I despise the "X-mas" abbreviation because it is a linguistic corruption.
I'm all for Christmas, but I thought the X stood for Christ.
I still think the X stands for Christ.
But if it offends people, maybe I shouldn't do it.