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Summerland church once offered Merry Xmas greeting

Shortened form was used on a sign at the Methodist Church in 1915.
Summerland Review Staff
19927555_web1_191224-SUM-Merry-Xmas_3
(Photo courtesy of the Summerland Museum)

This picture from the Summerland Museum shows the sign for a children鈥檚 production at the Methodist Church in 1915.

The sign reads Merry Xmas instead of Merry Christmas.

READ ALSO: Old Christmas card has ties to Summerland agriculture

The letter X in this sign stands for the Greek letter Chi, which is short for Christ. The shortened phrase was much easier to fit on large signs such as this one.

While the wish and the picture with it indicate the true Christian spirit of the season, it would be interesting to see how their play, Cinderella and the Prince, related to the Christmas story.

At one time X was used as a kind of non-religious Greek shorthand wherever the letters Christ appeared, so if your name was Christine it was shortened to Xine, and Christopher was Xopher.

To report a typo, email:
news@summerlandreview.com.


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