Let Heaven And Earth Rejoice And Sing

Let us celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer.

Xmas vs Christmas

Christmas is also sometimes called Xmas. Some people don't think it's correct to call Christmas 'Xmas' as that takes the 'Christ' (Jesus) out of Christmas. But that is not quite right! In the Greek language and alphabet, the letter that looks like an X is the Greek letter chi / Χ (pronounced 'kye' - it rhymes with 'eye') which is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Christos.

The early church used the first two letters of Christos in the Greek alphabet 'chi' and 'rho' to create a monogram (symbol) to represent the name of Jesus. This looks like an X with a small p on the top:

The symbol of a fish is sometimes used by Christians (Ichthys, sometimes spelled Ichthus, or Ikhthus, from Koine Greek: ΙΧΘΥΣ is the ancient and classical Greek word for “fish.” In English it refers to a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish, used by Early Christians as a secret symbol and now known colloquially as the “sign of the fish” or the “Jesus Fish.”   

ΙΧΘΥΣ (Ichthys) is an acronym for “Iēsous Christos, Theou Yios, Sōtēr, which translates into English as “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”.  According to tradition, ancient Christians, during their persecution by the Roman Empire in the first few centuries after Christ, used the fish symbol to mark meeting places and tombs, or to distinguish friends from foes.) 

This comes from the time when the first Christians had to meet in secret, as the Romans wanted to kill them (before Emperor Constantine became a Christian). Jesus had said that he wanted to make his followers 'Fishers of Men', so people started to use that symbol.

When two Christians met, one person drew half a basic fish shape (often using their foot in the dust on the ground) and the other person drew the other half of the fish. The Greek word for fish is 'Ikthus' or 'Ichthys'. There are five Greek letters in the word. It can also make up a sentence of Christian beliefs 'Ie-sous Christos Theou Huios So-te-r' which in English means "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour". The second letter of these five letter is X or Christos!

So Xmas can also mean Christmas; but it should also be pronounced 'Christmas' rather than 'ex-mas'!

The small letters in the

image are the alpha and omega

The labarum, as a monogram

engraved on soldiers' shields,

 is a military emblem.

For Christians, it is a Christogram

(or Chrismon) and reminds them

 of the fight is against evil.

LATVIA – Home for First Decorated Christmas TREE

Riga's first christmas tree 1510

 Why do we have a decorated Christmas Tree? In the 7^th century a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, went to Germany to teach the Word of God. He did many good works there, and spent much time in Thuringia, an area which was to become the cradle of the Christmas Decoration Industry.

Legend has it that he used the triangular shape of the Fir Tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The converted people began to revere the Fir tree as God's Tree, as they had previously revered the Oak. By the 12th century it was being hung, upside-down, from ceilings at Christmastime in Central Europe, as a symbol of Christianity.

The Queen's Christmas tree at

Windsor Castle published in the

Illustrated London News, 1848,

and republished in Godey's Lady's

Book, Philadelphia in December 1850

The first decorated tree was at Riga in Latvia, in 1510. In the early 16^th century, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small Christmas Tree with candles, to show his children how the stars twinkled through the dark night.

Finland has Santa Claus. Russia has traditional handmade Christmas ornaments. Germany has Christmas markets. But arguably the most well-known of Christmas traditions -- decorating the Christmas tree -- may have its origin in Latvia. And it's all but unknown.

A Christmas tree for

German soldiers in a

temporary hospital in 1871.

In the past, there have been stories about Martin Luther walking in the woods near Riga and he created the first Christmas Tree. But actually, the Riga tree reference and the Martin Luther Tree reference are two different occurrences. The Martin Luther Tree was not the Riga Tree. In fact, little is known about the original Riga tree other than the fact that it was attended by men wearing black hats, and that after a ceremony, they burnt the tree. The Martin Luther walk in the forest, believed to actually in Northern Germany and his lighted tree actually occurred several decades later.

In Latvia as in all of northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun as a part of pagan activities where people were living their life as they had done for hundreds of years before.  In all societies, there were people who filled the roles of judge, doctor, diviner, mage, mystic, and clerical scholar - they were the religious intelligentsia of their culture. These people often used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees and gathering around a large bonfire. The legend says that the first Riga tree in 1510 was decorated with paper flowers and burnt on the bonfire after the ceremony; most probably, with a toast for the future, with steins held high!

According to Countess Maria Hubert von Staufer of the organization Christmas Archives International based in the England, "Riga is very important in the History of the Christmas Tree".

In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square where the young men “went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame”. In that period, the guilds started erecting Christmas trees in front of their guildhalls: Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann (Marburg professor of European ethnology) found a Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 which reports how a small tree was decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers" and erected in the guild-house, for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas Day.

The plaque is engraved "The First New Years

Tree in Riga in 1510", in eight languages.               

Town Hall Square in riga, developed in the middle of the 13th century, was initially a marketplace. Various celebrations, dances, games, tournaments, performances of mysteries, carnivals and parades took place there. The main function of the Square, though, was the administration of the city: the rules and orders of the Town Council were read out there.

Next:-  X'mas Vs. Christmas

some of the Photographs, drawings and content used with permission of:  The Home of the First Christmas Tree (R) Organization --  www.FirstChristmasTree.org