Christ-Mas: The Real St. Nicholas and Keeping Christ in Christmas
The word is literally Christ's Mass. And the man behind Santa Claus was a bishop who went hard for the faith.
Christmas means Christ's Mass
The English word Christmas comes from the Old English Cristes mæsse, the Mass of Christ. It shows up in writing almost a thousand years ago. Before it was a shopping season, a movie genre or a reason to stress about wrapping paper, it was a feast day: the Church gathering at the altar to celebrate God becoming man in a manger in Bethlehem.
So when people say "keep Christ in Christmas," they are not adding something to the holiday. They are pointing at what was already there. He is in the name.
What about "Xmas"?
Here is one that surprises people. The X in Xmas is not crossing Christ out. It is the Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christos, the Greek word for Christ. Christians have used it as shorthand for His name for centuries, the same way the Chi-Rho shows up in old churches. You can still write out the whole word if you want. But Xmas was never a secret attack on the holiday.
The real St. Nicholas
Santa Claus started as a real man: St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, in what is now southern Turkey, in the fourth century. His feast day is December 6, and Christians have honored him for more than 1,600 years.
The most famous story about him is the reason we hang stockings. A poor father had three daughters and no money for their dowries, which in that world meant no future for them. Nicholas heard about it and, at night, secretly tossed bags of gold through the window so no one would know who gave it. Tradition says one landed in a stocking hung by the fire to dry. Secret, generous, nothing in it for himself. That is the original Christmas gift.
The bishop who went hard
There is another story, and it is a little more Saints Go Hard. In the year 325 the Church gathered at the Council of Nicaea to defend the truth that Jesus is fully God. A priest named Arius was teaching that He was not. According to a later legend, Nicholas got so fired up that he walked across the room and slapped Arius. Historians debate whether it really happened, but the Church remembers what came out of that council: the Nicene Creed, the same words Catholics still pray at Mass every Sunday.
Gentle with the poor. Fierce about the truth. That is the man behind the red suit.
How St. Nicholas became Santa Claus
Dutch Christians called him Sinterklaas and kept his feast with gifts for children. Dutch settlers brought him to New York, the name drifted into Santa Claus, and over the 1800s poems, cartoons and eventually advertising turned the bishop into the jolly guy at the North Pole. Santa is not the enemy. He is a saint who lost his miter along the way. Telling your kids who he really was is one of the easiest ways to keep Christ at the center of the season.
Five ways to keep Christ in Christmas this year
Go to Mass. Christmas is a Mass before it is anything else, so start there, and bring someone who has not been in a while.
Celebrate St. Nicholas on December 6. Put chocolate coins in your kids' shoes the night before and tell them the story of the three daughters.
Give one gift in secret. Pay for someone's groceries, cover a bill, drop an envelope. Do it the way Nicholas did, without your name on it.
Keep Advent. The four weeks before Christmas are about waiting and preparing. Light an Advent wreath, read the daily Gospel, and save the party for when it actually starts.
Wear it. A Christian hat or tee is a small thing, but it starts conversations at the gym, at work and at family dinners. That is the whole reason Faith & Based exists.
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."Luke 2:11
Christian Christmas gifts that keep the point
If you want a gift that says something, start with the Christian gifts for men gift guide. Saints Go Hard puts four warrior saints on one shirt, and St. Nicholas would have fit right in. Our Hat + Tee bundles are 10% off and make the whole fit one gift, and Little Saints lets dad and kid match on Christmas morning. Everything is made to order, so order by early December to have it under the tree. Shop all Catholic streetwear or Christian streetwear.