Christmas

It is a common misconception that the 'Xmas' abbreviation is a secular attempt to 'strike Christ out of Christmas' to further remove the religious tradition of the holiday. It infact comes from the greek word Χριστός (Christ) which has been abbreviated as "Χ" in reference to the prophesied Jewish Messiah possibly even before Jesus' birth. The greek letter "Χ" has also been used to represent an X shaped cross, one of the various shapes Romans used to nail criminals to; though this shape was rarely used. The Xmas abbreviation has been used in English since 16th century where it appears in manuscripts with the words "Xpian" and "Xtian" which use the same abbreviation.

Scholars of modern English, in all its recognised dialects, have never formally recognised the intent to 'remove Christ from Christmas' as a valid use. Rather they have defined it as an abbreviation not to be used in formal writing, because it is an abbreviation.

The phrase "Xp̄es mæsse" appears in an 12th century Anglo-Saxon (Old English) manuscript. This might be just a fluke, as no anglo-saxon words start with the letter X. The phrase may just be an (arguably failed) attempt to record a latin phrase. Regardless, this one use does not make it common whereas it's 16th century is.