I’ve got a feelin’ for hælan

Merry Christmas!!!

It’s Christmas so let’s have some fun! I’m feeling playful today, so you better watch out.

First, let’s do the consumerist part of Christmas: go buy my new book here. 

See. Wasn’t that fun? 

When looking at the word Christmas, most people focus on the Christ part. We will get to that, but what about the -mas part?

Obviously, it comes from the word mass. Catholics know what mass is. It is a gathering of worship. But what does the word tell us?

At first glance, “mass” comes from Late Latin missa, which is to dismiss. If we dive just a little deeper, we find the word mittere: to let go, send. 

Aha! Now that is going to be useable and fun. You’re probably thinking, “Nat, you are trippin’ if you think etymology is fun.”  

Slow your roll. Take a breath. I’ll show you how fun words are.

Back to mass = mittere = let go, send. We will start with the “send” part.

Maybe you’ve heard that I like surfing? In my preferred sport as well as other extreme sports, to “send it” means to go for it. To let it rip. To do something radical. To throw caution to the wind and attempt the extraordinary. The term “full send” means that you fully commit. When you fully send it, there is no turning back. For better or for worse, you are going for it. Full commitment.

That’s a fun way of looking at Christmas: fully sending it to the Christ…full commitment.

But what is the Christ? Is it just Jesus’s last name? 

Originally it was used as a title. Like saying “President” or “King”, as in an office that one holds. That is actually an accurate description of what it is. Others have held the office of the Christ, but Jesus was such a badass that we actually changed his last name to Christ. It’s like if we had a president that “presidented” so fully that we were like, “You know what, let’s just change their last name to President.” :)

If you look at the history of the word Christ, it comes from greek and latin, meaning anointed. But, did you know that before the word Christ became the preferred word related to Jesus, the word Hæland, meaning savior or healer, of Old English origins, was a competitor for Jesus’ last name?

Isn’t that interesting?

What if Christmas was actually about healing? Now you are probably wondering about the old English word hælan that the word “heal” comes from, aren’t you? 

I’ve got a feelin’ for hælan.

Since you are so curious, it means “cure; save; make whole, sound and well”.

Now that we have that cleared up, let’s return to mass. Remember the other meaning besides full send?

Let go.

So Christmas could also be about letting go to the Christ. 

Nice idea, but how do you let go?

Jesus Christ (formerly known as Jesus of Nazareth) mentioned this thing called forgiveness.

As they say in music, “break it down.”

Forgive. The for- means completely. And the -give part from giefan is pretty self-evident. That’s right ladies and gents, it means give. So to forgive is to completely give. Basically, full send.

What do you have to do to let go (remember, this is one of the root meanings of -mas in Christmas…stay with me folks!)? If you are holding something in your hand and you need to let it go, what do you do with your hand? Open it, silly.

So, besides giving gifts, Santa Claus, Elves on shelves, and listening to Bing Crosby, what is Christmas?  

Christmas is letting go to the Christ, and you do that by opening to the Christ, and in doing that, you are made whole. 

What comes from the word whole? Holy!

So, have a Merry Christmas, my holy, whole people! 

Reading with Frosty - Transcending by Nathaniel Sharratt