Some Christmas cards

A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to the Christmas season. A greeting card is an illustrated folded card featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment Christmas cards are usually exchanged during the weeks preceding Christmas Day on December 25 by many people (including non-Christians) in Western society and in Asia. Events 274 - Roman Emperor Aurelian The traditional greeting inside a Christmas card often reads "wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year". There are innumerable variations on this greeting, many cards expressing more religious sentiment, or containing a poem, prayer or Biblical verse.

A Christmas card is generally commercially designed and purchased for the occasion. The content of the design might relate directly to the Christmas narrative with depictions of the Nativity of Jesus, or have Christian symbols such as the Star of Bethlehem or a white dove representing both the Holy Spirit and Peace. For depictions in painting and sculpture see Nativity of Jesus in art. The Nativity of Jesus has been a major subject of Christian art since the 4th century Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings See also Star of Bethlehem (plant. The Star of Bethlehem, also called the Christmas Star, is a star in Christian tradition In mainstream Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is one of the three entities of the Holy Trinity which make up the single substance Peace, in the modern usage is a concept defined by the ideal state of relationship as absence of hostility at the international level that of a War. Many Christmas cards are secular and show Christmas traditions such as Santa Claus, objects associated with Christmas such as candles, holly and baubles, and Christmastime activities such as shopping and partying, or other aspects of the season such as the snow and wildlife of the northern winter. Secularity ( adjective form secular) is the state of being separate from Religion. Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or simply " Santa " is the Many secular cards depict nostalgic scenes of the past such as crinolined shoppers in 19th century streetscapes. Many secular Christmas cards are humorous, particularly in depicting the antics of Santa and his retinue.

Some Christian groups (such as Jehovah's Witnesses) do not celebrate Christmas because there is not explicit Biblical authorization for the tradition, and so do not exchange Christmas cards. Jehovah's Witnesses is a restorationist, millenialist Christian denomination Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin

History

The world's first commercially produced Christmas card, made by John Callcott Horsley.

The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London, 1843, and featured an illustration by John Callcott Horsley. Sir Henry Cole ( 15 July 1808, Bath, England – 18 April 1882, London, England) was a Civil John Callcott Horsley ( January 29, 1817 - October 18, 1903) English painter, son of William Horsley, the musician The picture, of a family with a small child drinking wine together, proved controversial, but the idea was shrewd: Cole had helped introduce the Penny Post three years earlier. The Penny Post is any one of several Postal systems in which normal letters could be sent for one Penny. A batch of 1000 cards was printed and sold for a shilling each.

Early English cards rarely showed winter or religious themes, instead favoring flowers, fairies and other fanciful designs that reminded the recipient of the approach of spring. Humorous and sentimental images of children and animals were popular, as were increasingly elaborate shapes, decorations and materials. In 1875 Louis Prang became the first printer to offer cards in America, though the popularity of his cards led to cheap imitations that eventually drove him from the market. Louis Prang ( March 12, 1824 - September 14, 1909) was an American printer lithographer and publisher The advent of the postcard spelled the end for elaborate Victorian-style cards, but by the 1920s, cards with envelopes had returned. A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick Paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an Envelope and

The production of Christmas cards was, throughout the 20th century, a profitable business for many stationery manufacturers, with the design of cards continually evolving with changing tastes and printing techniques. The World Wars brought cards with patriotic themes. A world war is a War affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations Idiosyncratic "studio cards" with cartoon illustrations and sometimes risque humor caught on in the 1950s. Nostalgic, sentimental, and religious images have continued in popularity, and, in the 21st century, reproductions of Victorian and Edwardian cards are easy to obtain. Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities Class and society Socially the Edwardian era was a period during which the British Class system was very rigid Modern Christmas cards can be bought individually but are also sold in packs of the same or varied designs.

In recent decades changes in technology may be responsible for the decline of the Christmas card. The estimated number of cards received by American households dropped from 29 in 1987 to 20 in 2004. [1] Email and telephones allow for more frequent contact and are easier for generations raised without handwritten letters - especially given the availability of websites offering free email Christmas cards. Electronic mail, often abbreviated to e-mail, email, or originally eMail, is a Store-and-forward method of writing sending receiving Despite the decline, 1. 9 billion cards were sent in the U. S. in 2005 alone. [2] Some card manufacters, such as Hallmark, now provide E-cards.

President Johnson's 1967 White House Christmas card

Official Christmas cards

"Official" Christmas cards began with Queen Victoria in the 1840s. Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The British royal family's cards are generally portraits reflecting significant personal events of the year. The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. In 1953, U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first official White House card. Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general See also Executive Office of the President of the United States The White House, formerly known as the Executive Mansion, is the Official residence The cards usually depict White House scenes as rendered by prominent American artists. The number of recipients has snowballed over the decades, from just 2000 in 1961 to 1. 4 million in 2005. [3]

Trade Christmas card promoting Royal typewriters

Commercial Christmas cards

Many businesses, from small local businesses to multi-national enterprises send Christmas cards to the people on their customer lists, as a way to develop general goodwill, retain brand awareness and reinforce social networks. The Royal Typewriter Company was a manufacturer of Typewriters headquartered in Hartford Connecticut. These cards are almost always discrete and secular in design, and do not attempt to sell a product, limiting themselves to mentioning the name of the business. The practice harkens back to trade cards of the 18th century, an ancestor of the modern Christmas card. Trade card describes small cards similar to the Visiting cards exchanged in social circles that businesses would distribute to clients and potential customers

Charity Christmas cards

Many organizations produce special Christmas cards as a fundraising tool. The most famous of these enterprises is probably the UNICEF Christmas card program, launched in 1949. The United Nations Children's Fund (or UNICEF) was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946 Some charity cards are produced by commercial printers, who give a portion of the proceeds to the charity. Others are produced and sold by the charity itself [4] The UK-based Charities Advisory Trust gives out an annual "Scrooge Award" to the cards that return the smallest percentage to the charities they claim to support. [5]

Christmas stamps and stickers

Many countries produce official Christmas stamps, which may be brightly coloured and depict some aspect of Christmas tradition or a Nativity scene. Small decorative stickers are also made to seal the back of envelopes, typically showing a trinket or some symbol of Christmas.

In 2004, the German post office gave away 20 million free scented stickers, to make Christmas cards smell of a fir Christmas tree, cinnamon, gingerbread, a honey-wax candle, a baked apple and an orange. Firs ( Abies) are a genus of between 45-55 species of Evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. A Christmas tree, Yule tree, holiday tree or Tannenbaum (fir tree is one of the most popular Traditions associated with the celebration Cinnamon ( Cinnamomum verum, synonym C zeylanicum) is a small Evergreen Tree 10–15 metres (32 Gingerbread is a sweet that can take the form of a Cake or a Cookie in which the predominant flavors are ginger and raw Sugar. Honey is a sweet and Viscous fluid produced by Honey bees (and some other species and derived from the nectar of Flowers According to the Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by Bees ( Beeswax) and used by them in constructing their A candle is a Light source and sometimes a Heat source consisting of a solid block of Fuel and an embedded wick. A cooking apple is an Apple that is used primarily for cooking rather than eating fresh An orange —specifically the sweet orange —is the Citrus fruit Citrus sinensis ( syn

Home-made cards

Christmas card made on a PC with a basic drawing program.

Since the 19th century, many families and individuals have chosen to make their own cards, either in response to monetary necessity, as an artistic endeavour, or in order to avoid the commercialism associated with Christmas cards. Many families make the creation of Christmas cards a family endeavour and part of the seasonal festivity, along with stirring the Christmas cake and decorating the tree. Over the years such cards have been produced in every type of paint and crayon, in collage and in simple printing techniques such as potato-cuts. A revival of interest in paper crafts, particularly scrapbooking, has raised the status of the homemade card and made available an array of tools for stamping, punching and cutting. Scrapbooking is a method for preserving personal and family history in the form of photographs printed media and memorabilia contained in decorated albums or scrapbooks

Advances in digital photography and printing have provided the technology for many people to design and print their own cards, using their original graphic designs or photos, or those available with many computer programs or online as clip art, as well as a great range of typefaces. Digital photography is a form of Photography that utilizes Digital technology to make Digital images of subjects Clip art in the Graphic arts, refers to pre-made images used to illustrate any medium Such homemade cards include personal touches such as family photos and holidays snapshots.

Collectors items

From the beginning, Christmas cards have been avidly collected. Queen Mary amassed a large collection that is now housed in the British Museum. Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes 26 May 1867 – 24 March 1953 was the queen-empress consort of George V of the United Kingdom The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London. [6] Specimens from the "golden age" of printing (1840s-1890s) are especially prized and bring in large sums at auctions. In December 2005, one of Horsley's original cards sold for nearly £9000. Collectors may focus on particular images like Santa Claus, poets, or printing techniques. Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or simply " Santa " is the

The Christmas card list

Many people send cards to both close friends and distant acquaintances, potentially making the sending of cards a multi-hour chore in addressing scores or even hundreds of envelopes. The greeting in the card can be personalized but brief, or may include a summary of the year's news. The extreme of this is the Christmas letter (below). Because cards are usually exchanged year after year, the phrase "to be off someone's Christmas card list" is used to indicate a falling out between friends or public figures.

Christmas letters

Some people take the annual mass mailing of cards as an opportunity to update everybody with the year's events, and include the so-called "Christmas letter" reporting on the family's doings, sometimes running to multiple printed pages. While a practical notion, Christmas letters meet with a mixed reception; recipients may take it as boring minutiae, bragging, or a combination of the two. Since the letter will be received by both close and distant relatives, there is also the potential for the family members to object to how they are presented to others; an entire episode of Everybody Loves Raymond was built around conflict over the content of just such a letter. Everybody Loves Raymond is an Emmy Award -winning American Television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13 what to say in the letter?

Environmental impact and recycling

During the first 70 years of the 19th century it was common for Christmas and other greeting cards to be recycled by women's service organisations who collected then and removed the pictures, to be pasted into scrap books for the entertainment of children in hospitals, orphanages, kindergartens and missions. With children's picture books becoming cheaper and more readily available, this form of scrap-booking has almost disappeared.

Recent concern over the environmental impact of printing, mailing and delivering cards has fueled an increase in e-cards. [7] "Green" alternatives to the glittery paper standard include those made with recycled paper and vegetable-based inks. [8]

Since 2000, the U.K. conservation charity Woodland Trust has sponsored an annual campaign to collect and recycle Christmas cards to raise awareness of recycling and collect donations from corporate sponsors. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Woodland Trust, founded in London, England in 1972, and now based in Grantham, Lincolnshire, is a conservation charity in Recycling involves processing used materials into new products in order to prevent the waste of potentially useful materials reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials reduce Its goal for 2007 is to collect 90 million cards by year's end. [9]

International Christmas greetings

The traditional English greeting of "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" as it appears in other languages:

• German: Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr
• Dutch: Prettige kerstdagen en een gelukkig nieuwjaar
• Danish: God jul og godt nytår
• Greek (Ελληνικά): Καλά Χριστούγεννα και ευτυχισμένος ο Καινούριος Χρόνος
• Finnish: Hyvää Joulua ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
• French: Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année
• Polish: Wesolych Swiat i Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
• Estonian: Häid jõule ja Head uut aastat
• Portuguese: Boas Festas e um feliz Ano novo
• Russian: С Новым Годом и Рождеством
• Spanish: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
• Swedish: God Jul och Gott Nytt År
• Italian: Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo
• Vietnamese: Chúc mừng Giáng Sinh
• Basque: Gabon Zoriontsuak eta urte berri on
• Catalan: Bon Nadal i Feliç Any Nou
• Irish: Nollaig Shona Duit

References

• BBC Devon News Story of the first commercial Christmas card, including picture. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. Estonian (; ˈeːsti ˈkeːl is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1 Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ) formerly known under French colonization as Annamese ( see Annam) Basque ( native name: euskara) is the Language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Retrieved 2 Jan 2006.
• BBC December 3, 2005: First Christmas card sold for £8,469. Retrieved 2 Jan 2006.
• The History of Greeting Cards including many galleries of images

External links