The Christians took over Christmas, from a Pagan festival Xmas* which is
celebrated around the 26th December (I think).
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I really don't want to sound persnikity, but in the interest of getting
the most out of posts like the above, specific dates or even the names
of countries would help immensely.
Which pagans, and which Christians?
Which version of the Holy Roman Empire are you referring to?
I always regarded the X in Xmas as a shortened version of the name
Christ.
Greek is the language of the Orthodox, or older christian church, i.e.
before the iconoclastic schism. The Greek Alphabet has different letters
than the Latin Alphabet.
In Greek the name Jesus Christ is ICUC XRICTOC (pronounced eesus
kristos)
If you look at some byzantine-style icons or very old latin paintings of
christ you will see letters in the halo. They are sometimes IC and XP,
or JC and KR or sometimes just I and X.
All of these are shortened versions of the two names Jesus and Christ.
The letter X, iconographically, is the word Christ.
Xmas= Christ mass= Christmas.
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