Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Niall O'Donnell 7 Comments

Just a quick post for today, unsurprisingly about the meaning of the word Christmas. You can probably guess that it is of course a combination of the words Christ and Mass. It’s a shortening of Christ’s Mass, which makes sense as a name for the day, and was first recorded in the 11th century. Linguistically, there’s not much else interesting about it, as its meaning is so opaque. I suppose there’s the fact that we use on before special days (on Christmas Day), and at for longer periods of celebration (at Christmas). And there’s Xmas! Even though it’s often considered a blasphemous, secular, lazy contraction of the word, it actually has a religious background. The X comes from the Greek letter chi, which in English is Christ, so it’s basically identical to Christmas.

But yeah, Mass! I remember, like many an Irish child in the 80s and 90s, thinking about when I should get mass: would I get Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, and enjoy the pleasure of waking up on Christmas morning knowing I didn’t have to get Mass, and could spend the day playing with my new toys.

I always tried to get Midnight Mass, but sometimes I was just far too comfortable at home on Christmas Eve, and I’d leave it for the morning, which I’d always regret, although Mass on Christmas Day was always okay, because everyone was in a good mood, and you knew the Gospel story would be a good one. Midnight Mass could be great though, it always seemed to have a really special atmosphere, which even the tipsy men fresh from the pub standing at the back seemed to appreciate. Even when I started to become less religious, I’d still sometimes enjoy Midnight Mass.

I only very occasionally find myself at Mass these days. It’s interesting how I still remember lots of the responses, and find myself automatically reciting them before I realise I have. Although no-one seems to remember when to kneel anymore, so it seems everyone just sits and stands.

So whether you’re going to Mass or not, or spending Christmas in any of the other infinite ways to spend it, (or not even celebrating Christmas, but still hopefully having a nice end-of-year), I hope you have a merry one!

Noël

Niall O'Donnell 4 Comments

Why is Christmas sometimes referred to as Noël, particularly in old Christmas carols? It comes from the Latin natalis, meaning birth, as part of the phrase Dies Natalis, meaning birthday. One of the most common ways the phrase was used in Ancient Rome was to refer to Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the birthday of the Roman sun god Sol Invictus, which, in an amazing coincidence, took place on Christmas Day. Continue reading →

Merry Holidays, Happy Christmas!

Niall O'Donnell 15 Comments

Do you prefer to say Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays? It seems that every year people get all het up about other people saying Happy Holidays, and spread stories of doubtful veracity about people not being allowed to say Merry Christmas to avoid offending non-Christians, all part of the grand “War on Christmas.” Which seems to be largely in people’s heads, as most examples of it tend to be exaggerated or simply not true. At worst, most cases cited as part of the “War on Christmas” seem to simply involve acknowledging Christmas alongside other ways to celebrate this time of year, like the infamous Winterval festival in Birmingham (England) in 1997. It became known as a byword for the “War on Christmas,” even though it actually involved celebrating Christmas, Diwali, and secular events like New Year’s Eve (the front cover of the brochure featured the word Christmas six times and a picture of a Christmas Tree, and the word Christmas featured on every page). Continue reading →

A Bit of a Do

Niall O'Donnell 8 Comments

I’ll be getting ready for my office Christmas party soon.

And by getting ready I mean probably changing my clothes.

it reminded me of a now probably old-fashioned Irishism, which is to refer to any kind of social gathering on a larger scale and more  than simply going to the pub as a do.

Sorry, I can’t go out tonight, we’re having our work Christmas do.

We’re having a bit of a do next week, if you want to come.

I’ve been invited to the mass, but I won’t be able to make it, so I’m just going to the evening do. Were you at their engagement do? Continue reading →

Black Friday

Niall O'Donnell 15 Comments

Another Black Friday has come and, depending on where in the world you are, gone again. Did you enjoy it? Did you buy anything?

I must admit that every time I hear the day mentioned, it takes me a moment to remember what it is. In my life it’s quite a new phenomenon. Of course in the United States, it’s long been considered the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping period (though why it needs to be such a long period I don’t know: I usually manage to get everything after 20th December!) In Ireland it used to be 8th December, when it was said that all the country folk would come to the nearest large town or city to start their shopping. But now, as with so many things associated with Christmas, the shopping starts earlier, and there are more and more ads for Black-Friday deals. Which seems a little strange. I understand why it exists in America: many people have the day off, they’re starting to think about Christmas, and perhaps need to get away from their family after a day of cabin fever. But in Europe it’s a normal working day, so I don’t know how many people are shopping.

The first case of the day after Thanksgiving being referred to as Black Friday seems to have occurred in 1951 in the pages of the journal Factory Management and Maintenance, to refer to the number of people calling in sick to work. But this is not the only Black Friday, which isn’t really surprising when one thinks about our tendency to mark momentous yet tragic days with a the colour black. Perhaps most famously there was Black Tuesday, the day of the Wall Street Crash in 1929. The term Black Friday has long been used by emergency services and the National Health Service in the UK to refer to the last Friday before Christmas, when the increase of drunken revellers makes them quite busy. It’s also, contrary to a seemingly increasingly popular misconception, nothing to with slavery. Here are some more historical Black Fridays: Continue reading →