Blog post
Christmas celebrates the Creator entering creation. Creationmas would celebrate the creation into which the Creator revealed himself as the giver of everything: a day of gratitude for the world God has created, sustains, and entrusts to our care.
We should not wait until creation is threatened before we celebrate it. The ecological crisis demands urgent action, but Christians also need a language of wonder, gratitude, and celebration. Creationmas invites churches and communities everywhere to give thanks for the gift of life: forests and rivers, oceans and mountains, animals and plants, human communities, and the extraordinary diversity of God's creation.
An old word renewed
The suffix “-mas” comes from Mass, and has traditionally marked the names of Christian celebrations. Some remain familiar, such as Michaelmas, Candlemas, and Martinmas, while others – including Marymas, Petermas, Johnmas, and Paulmas – have gradually disappeared from common usage. Creationmas would creatively revive an old Christian linguistic tradition, filling it with new meaning for our time.
The question is just as intriguing in Greek. Χριστούγεννα (Christougenna) evokes the birth of Christ. Could we speak instead of Κοσμόγεννα (Cosmogenna), the “birth of the cosmos,” or Δημιουργιόγεννα (Dimiourgiogenna), the “birth of creation”? Whatever name eventually takes hold, the theological intuition stays the same: creation is not merely the stage on which the Christian story unfolds. It is part of God's story.
An invitation to ecological metanoia
Creationmas is an invitation to ecological metanoia – a change of heart that turns into real repentance and action for how we treat creation. This is one small part of a longer journey. The WCC's Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action (2025–2034) calls churches everywhere into exactly this kind of ongoing conversion. The Season of Creation – the ecumenical season of prayer and action for creation, running from 1 September to 4 October – will open on 1 September this year, offering a yearly moment to practise that conversion together.
On this 1 September, and every year as the Season of Creation is opening, perhaps Christians could mark the day with a simple greeting:
Happy Creationmas!
Happy birthday, creation.
May we receive you always as God's gift.
May we learn to celebrate and respect you.
And may our celebration become commitment – to protect, restore, and care for our common home for generations yet to come.
Care for creation and climate justice
Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action (2025–2034)
About the author :
Dr. Louk A. Andrianos is member of many environmental organizations (Planta Europa, Season of Creation, Action-Aid, Red Cross, etc.) and collaborates with the World Council of Churches (WCC) as Consultant on care for Creation, Sustainability and Climate Justice. Since 2019, he is also serving at the Municipality of Platanias in Chania, Crete, as collaborator for sustainable development, civil protection and protection of the environment.
