WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD “CHRISTMAS”?

The word “Christmas” comes from the Old English phrase Christes maesse (“Christ’s Mass”)—that is the Mass
celebrated in honor of Christ’s birth. From this original reference to a particular Mass celebrated in the Church’s
liturgical year, the term came to apply both to the day on which the Mass was celebrated and to the liturgical season associated with it (i.e., the Christmas season,). The term Christes maesse began to be written in English as
one word in the mid-1300s. In Spanish, “Christmas” is Navidad, in Italian it is Natale, and in French it is Noël.
These terms are derived from the Latin root nativitas, from which we also get the word “Nativity” (i.e., birth). The
first Christians do not appear to have had a word for this day, because the first Christians do not appear to have
celebrated this day. It took some time for the practice of celebrating Christmas to emerge. The Church’s year of
feasts first developed, not with a view to the birth of Christ, but from faith in his Resurrection. Thus the original
feast of Christianity is Easter, not Christmas. Merry Christmas! Father Maria Joseph Kodigant