How nice it is to receive New Year's greetings in the mail in the form of New Year's cards. Today I received the first such congratulation, I hope that it will not be the last. For more than 170 years, it has been customary to congratulate the New Year by sending New Year's cards. Do you know who invented the first to send New Year's greetings in the form of New Year's cards by mail? Today I will tell you the story of the New Year's card. You will learn not only how and when the first New Year's card appeared, but also get acquainted with the history of New Year's cards in Russia.

When did the first Christmas card appear?

Philokartists around the world are arguing about where the first New Year's card appeared. There are several versions here. I will give you the most popular versions.

Ancient China

The prototype of the New Year's greeting card was business cards, which were used in China more than 1000 years ago. According to Chinese etiquette, if the visitor did not find the owner of the house whom he would like to congratulate, then he had to leave his business card by writing your wishes on it.

England

It was in England that the tradition began to send greeting cards to your friends for Christmas and New Year by mail.

The first hand-drawn Christmas card was drawn by Dobson, an English artist, and personally handed it to the recipient in 1794. The picture showed a happy family near and a winter landscape. The artist did not give special attention his invention, he just wanted to congratulate his friend in an unusual way. In fact, it was not yet a postcard, but a Christmas greeting card. Later, in 1800, there was business man, which organized the sale of such cards, and not only for Christmas, but also for the New Year.

The world's first New Year's card produced by industrial way, saw the light on the eve of 1843. The idea belongs to the English statesman, artist-designer Henry Cole. Being a very busy man, in order to congratulate all his many friends in writing, he asked his friend, the artist John Calcott Horsley, to draw his family at the Christmas table.

The image read "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year." In the future, these wishes became traditional.

The postcard was so popular that Henry Cole had the idea to publish this postcard in London with a circulation of 1000 copies, so that you could not only congratulate your relatives, friends and acquaintances, but also sell it to everyone. The first postcards were black and white and colored by the artist himself. Above it was written - to whom, and below from whom. These postcards looked like this.

Postcards from this series sold out instantly, for each postcard received a shilling. In 2009, one of the 30 surviving copies of the first Christmas card sold for £5,170 at a Bloomsbury auction in London.

However, neither Cole nor Horsley saw an opportunity to develop their business here, naively believing that sending Christmas and New Year cards is just a tribute to fashion, which is very changeable and fleeting.

But they were wrong, since 1860 the mass production of postcards began, and the custom of sending New Year's cards has firmly entered our lives.

The history of the New Year's card in Russia

English tradition to congratulate loved ones holiday cards traveled all over Europe and in the middle of the 19th century came to Russia.

At first, enterprising merchants brought Christmas greeting cards to Russia from Germany, France, Austria, but only without foreign inscriptions. In the consciousness of the Russian people, the New Year was closely connected with Christmas. This was reflected in Russian New Year's cards, which included snow-covered Russian expanses, scenes of everyday life and beautiful church domes.

The famous Russian artist Nikolai Nikolaevich Karazin can be considered the author of the first New Year's postcard. In his works of 1901 there were scenes of festive festivities, landscapes of winter nature, the flight of a trio of horses.

Russian New Year's cards were distinguished by a special refined style. They were characterized by golden embossing, with sparkling white snow made of boric acid.

So it was until 1917, when the New Year's card became a relic of the bourgeois past. There was a ban on the celebration of Christmas and New Year. However, during World War II, the New Year's card returned again, it became a means of propaganda. In the 1950s, mass production of New Year's cards began.

Today, at the time of advanced technology, you can create virtual greeting cards and send them to your friends. There are even special services where there are already options for such postcards, but sometimes it costs certain financial costs.

Therefore, today I want to give the readers of my blog musical greeting cards for the New Year and Christmas, which I made myself.

To see my postcards you just need to follow the link:

Happy New Year - http://sirpriz.ru/snegovik/

Sincerely, Nadezhda Karacheva

Preview:

Project name: "History of New Year's toys"

Project type : Medium-term, cognitive.

Project participants: Children, educators, parents preparatory group"Bee"

Project implementation: December 2012

Project relevance:Participation in the project will allow you to form ideas about the history of the origin of the New Year's card. Increasing interest in the history of the family and the country.

Target:

Tasks:

Familiarization with the history of the appearance of the New Year's card.

Raise interest in the history of the family and the country.

Creation festive atmosphere, strengthening traditions

Develop creativity, imagination, accuracy, the ability to bring things to the end.

To cultivate interest in working with paper, a friendly attitude towards parents.

To develop the speech and horizons of children.

Cultivate curiosity.

Expected result:

Formed knowledge about the history of the New Year holiday.

Formed ideas about the history of the origin of the New Year's card.

Increasing interest in the history of the family and the country.

Preliminary work:

Search work on the selection of literature and illustrations.

Creation of a slide folder with information on the topic for parents.

Riddles on the New Year theme.

Consideration of illustrations, New Year's cards.

Reading books, memorizing poems and songs about the New Year holiday.

Working with parents:

Consultation with parents about a home conversation between parents and children about the traditions of holding family holiday New Year.

Creation of a sliding folder "History of a New Year's card".

Organization of an exhibition of New Year's cards different years release.

Organization of the exhibition of drawings and crafts "New Year's card".

Project stages:

1. Organizational:

Selection and study of literature - the beginning of December.

Setting goals and objectives.

Grouping the material and drawing up a plan - early December.

1. Practical:

Reading fairy tales "New Year's Adventures of Santa Claus", "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", "Twelve Months", "Moroz Ivanovich", " silver hoof”, “Morozko” - December.

Preparation of drawings and letters to Santa Claus, examination of factory New Year's cards, book illustrations - December.

Conversations with children about postcards. Their appointment and various ways their manufacture.

Memorizing poems and songs about the New Year holiday - December.

Riddles about the New Year's holiday - December.

Integrated lesson "History of the New Year's card" - December.

GCD for cognitive activity"New Year's card" - December.

Organization of an exhibition of New Year's cards of different years of release - December.

Organization of the exhibition of drawings and crafts "New Year's card" - December.

Consultation with parents about a home conversation between parents and children about the traditions of holding a family holiday New Year - December.

1. Final:

Project product:

Exhibition of drawings and crafts "New Year's card" - December.

Exhibition of New Year's cards of different years of issue - December.

Poems and songs about the New Year holiday - December.

List of used literature:

Children's encyclopedia;

Internet;

Fairy tales "New Year's Adventures of Santa Claus", "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", "Twelve Months", "Moroz Ivanovich", "Silver Hoof", "Morozko".

Application: - Educational areas

Project implementation.

Educational areas:

Communication: Conversations, free communication.

Cognition: - the story of the educator and parents

Examination of illustrations, New Year's cards

OD on cognitive development.

Learning poems and songs.

Riddles.

Observation

Reading fiction:

Russian reading folk tales, riddles on the topic.

Reading poems on the topic.

Socialization: - Outdoor games

Role-playing games.

Artistic Creativity:- Drawing

Application

Music: According to the plan of the music director.

Physical development:- physical education minutes

Outdoor games.

Safety:

Conversation "I go to the post office for a postcard"

SUMMARY OF THE INTEGRATED LESSON

"HISTORY OF NEW YEAR'S CARD".

TARGET: Acquaintance with the history of the origin of the New Year's card.

Program tasks:

1. To acquaint with the history of the development of the New Year holiday, the origin of the New Year's card.
2. Learn to make a New Year's card by decorating finished base images cut along the contour of paper folded like an accordion.
3. Develop creativity, imagination, accuracy, the ability to bring things to the end.
4. To cultivate interest in working with paper, a friendly attitude towards parents.

preliminary work: preparation of drawings and letters to Santa Claus, examination of factory New Year's cards, book illustrations.

Materials, tools, equipment:

Album sheet, simple pencil, felt-tip pens, factory New Year's cards, ready-made postcard samples.

Children, this morning I was going to your lesson and, as always, in the morning I went to check my email. And I saw there an unusual letter for the preparatory group "Bee".

Teacher: Is that you?

Children: - Yes.

Educator: - Some of you wrote letters to Santa Claus. Apparently they got an answer. Let's read it together.

(I read the letter on the computer)

Educator: - And why did Santa Claus send you a letter right now?

Children: - Because the new year is coming soon!

Educator: - Do you guys know what kind of New Year's holiday it is?

Children: - Yes, this is when ... ..

Educator: - Do you want me to tell you the story of the new year?

Children: - Yes.

(slide show)

Educator: - Let's start preparing for the new year today and make wonderful greeting cards for our loved ones. See what New Year's cards are made at the factory. What do they usually depict?

Children: - (children's answers)

Educator: - Guys, do you know how the first New Year's card happened?

Greeting card - small but very important element any holiday, because it is she who creates a unique atmosphere of celebration and even after many years is able to resurrect in our memory a long-forgottenholiday. And a New Year's card is able to convey to everyone who received it a wonderful feeling of a fairy tale, a miracle and childhood.

Did you know that the first postcard, that is, an open message, was invented just for the New Year holidays? It happened in China over a thousand years ago. They wrote only their name on it and left it at the door. The addressee will see a postcard - and immediately understand: congratulations! But then they were forgotten...

The second time the postcard was invented a little over a hundred years ago. And the German postmaster (postmaster) did it. This gentleman came up with the idea of ​​sending letters open, without envelopes. But the matter did not go further than this.

The first drawings on postcards were made by soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Sending a postcard to their relatives, they began to accompany it with a drawing. In the 19th century, the Englishman John Horsley was the first to create an artistic postcard. In the center of the postcard, he placed his family sitting at festive table. And the image was supplemented with the inscription: “ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The first greeting cards reached Russia from England. Merchants brought them without an inscription, with only one drawing. Then they printed on them in Russian: "Merry Christmas!". Since 1898, it has been established own production Christmas greeting cards. In Russia, they began to be treated as a work of art, and the drawings were made by eminent artists: I. Repin, I. Belibin, A. Benois and others. The plots were mostly based on the Russian style: Christmas divination, furry-legged horses with firewood, snow-covered spruce forests, sleighs flying down the mountain, and, of course, Santa Claus.

Well, nowadays new year holidays to congratulate our loved ones, we can purchase the most incredible postcards: sprinkled with sparkles, figured, voluminous, musical, and even send a postcard to in electronic format- MMS.

Educator: - And today in our workshop we will make unusual greeting cards as a gift to parents for the new year. Do you agree?

Children: - Yes.

Educator: - Look at what samples of postcards I have prepared for you! Beautiful? Do you like it? Let's try to make such beautiful cards with you!

Children: Yes...

Educator: - But before we start making them, let's move on. (physical education minute)

Winter exercise

To become strong and dexterous,

Let's start training.

Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.

Breathe deeper and then

Step in place, slowly.

How good the weather is!

We are not afraid of powders,

We catch snow - clap your hands.

Hands to the sides, at the seams.

Enough snow for us and you.

We are now throwers

We hit the enemy.

Swing your hand - throw!

A snowball is flying straight at the target.

Children draw New Year's cards.

Educator: - I suggest you make an exhibition of New Year's cards.

Look how beautiful and different your cards turned out to be. You have shown a lot of creativity and imagination in decorating them. You are great! With great pleasure, give them to your parents.

Abstract of a lesson on cognitive activity

"New Year card"

Tasks:

Learning tasks:

To reveal the knowledge of children about the world around them, the ability to generalize and systematize the signs of winter;

To reveal the ability of children to work with paper and scissors, to fold a square (according to verbal instructions) diagonally, clearly indicating the folds; perform the overall composition in design and application.

Development tasks:

Determine the level of development fine motor skills; visual and tactile perception; memory, logical thinking.

educational tasks:

To reveal the interest of children in collective creativity, the attentive and friendly attitude of the children to each other;

Encourage children's creativity, initiative.

Dictionary work: White, fluffy, loose, loose, cold, damp, wet, creaky.

Equipment:

1. paper with a silhouette of Santa Claus;

2. colored cardboard;

3. squares of green paper of different sizes.

4. squares of colored paper;

5. scissors, glue, brushes, napkins;

6. pictures winter trees.

Technical training aids:

1. tape recorder;

2. cassette with New Year's songs.

Preliminary work.

Works on the themes "Animals", "Birds", "Trees", "Winter";

Reading poetry, singing songs;

Reading a fairy tale New Year's Adventure Santa Claus";

Looking at New Year's cards.

Course progress.

Guys, a little squirrel came to visit us. He asks you to help him solve a riddle.

The lights will burn bright

And the songs will sound.

And Santa Claus will knock on our door with gifts. Who's to say, who knows when it happens.

(winter)

name winter months. (December January February)

White cold winter came to the earth, with deep snows, bitter frosts and blizzards. The sky is covered with gray clouds. It's snowing often.

What snow? (White, fluffy, loose, loose, cold,.)

Where does the squirrel live? (In the forest)

What other animals live in the forest? Children's answers.

And what animals cannot be found in the forest in winter and why? (bear and hedgehog because they are sleeping)

What birds can be found in the forest? (children's answers)

Look how many trees there are in the forest. Can you tell by the bark and branches what kind of trees they are? Children look at pictures of winter trees, name them.

Guys, what fun party coming soon? (New Year)

What tree comes to people for a holiday? (Christmas tree)

The squirrel told me that she had never seen such a holiday and really wants to get to it. We are preparing for the holiday: we learn poems, dances, songs. Let's invite a squirrel to our holiday. And so that the squirrel does not forget about the holiday, we will make an invitation for her.

The invitation must be New Year's, so what must be on it? (children's answers)

Of course, on new year invitation there must be a tree. Show the children a sample of a Christmas tree made using the origami technique. Would you like to make such a tree?

But first, let's play with our fingers.

A Christmas tree was born in the forest, They lower their hands up, palms to the floor.

She grew up in the forest, Raise their hands up.

In winter and summer, slender, They put their hands down and a little to the sides,

Green was. slightly turning the body to the sides.

The blizzard sang a song to her: Circular movements hands above your head.

“Sleep Christmas tree, bye bye! » Hands together and resting head on them.

Frost wrapped in snow: Hands are lowered with palms down and

"Look, don't freeze! »raise them in front of the chest.

Well, now we will make our Christmas tree. To make a postcard, we need colored double-sided paper.

We fold a sheet of paper in half and the base of the card is ready.

And here's a surprise ... for sure Green colour…. Because the surprise is new year's beauty- Her Majesty the FIR-TREE!

So, for the Christmas tree we take 6 squares of the same size. We leave 1 square whole, and cut the next ones 2-3 cm shorter than the previous ones. Trim on one side only. Then we need to fold each detail with an accordion. Now we fold each "accordion" in half. We open the card and start gluing our accordions at a distance of 5mm from each other. Then we can decorate our postcard.

The postcard turned out wonderful. Let's imagine which tree will come to us for the holiday and work with our eyes.

Our tree is high, Eyes down, up - perform 4 times

Reaches the ceiling.

From the foot to the crown

All in toys and crackers.

Look over there, children look at the index finger

Carrot nose, that's right. outstretched hand which is moving

The snowman goes here to the nose and back.

Not afraid, that's right.

Everything sparkles, beauty Flapping eyes.

shut up quick eyes. They close their eyes.

It is a pity that our Christmas tree has no legs.

If the Christmas tree had legs, they point to their feet

She would run along the path, they run one after another

She would dance with us

She would have banged her heels. stomp their feet

But the Christmas tree has no legs, they point to the legs

She does not run along the path, they run one after another

She does not dance with us

She doesn't bang her heels. stomp their feet

And she stands in a coniferous forest

She brings joy to people. Stretch your arms to the sides

Guys, who wants to tell our squirrel poems about the Christmas tree and the new year. Children read poetry at will.

The squirrel liked it very much. She asks you what else is there to do in winter besides the holiday, what do you do and what do you play. (We make a snowman, build a slide, go sledding)

Analysis: Tell me, what did we do today? Who will we invite to the party? (Children's answers) The squirrel thanks you for the invitation, for being so kind and sympathetic, for being so smart and skillful with me.

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A postcard is an integral part of a real congratulation. After all, this is an opportunity to sincerely write close person nice words, which you want to say so much, but either the words don’t come out of the language, or there simply isn’t enough time in the constant time pressure mode.

This is especially true, since it is in it that we wish new happiness, new achievements, everything new. Accordingly, the postcard becomes a symbol of a new stage in life.

But have you ever thought about where the tradition of giving cards came from, what is the history of the New Year's card familiar to everyone?

And her story began in Ancient China, where already two millennia ago, on the first day after the celebration of the New Year, it was customary to congratulate those who could not be seen at the holiday with red cards. On the eve of the holiday, the owner of the house hung a bag near the door especially for these cards, on which it was written: “Excuse me for not being able to personally accept it.”

However, the tradition of exchanging New Year's cards appeared much later in England. On the eve of the New Year, Henry Cole turned to his friend John Gersley with a request to draw something interesting with New Year theme. And his friend drew the first postcard in history with congratulations for the New Year. From this sketch, the first batch of New Year's cards from a thousand copies was printed in London. And the custom of congratulating your friends and loved ones on the New Year with postcards began its victorious march around the world. However, for each country, this tradition gradually acquired its own characteristic national features.

For example, in Austria, for many years, images of a chimney sweep, a four-leaf clover and a pig have been symbols of happiness. It is these characters that flaunt on greeting cards.

In Japan, it is customary to give cards with the image of an animal that corresponds to this year according to eastern horoscope. In these postcards, the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun thank their relatives and friends for all the good things that happened in the past year and express their hope for the continuation of friendly relations in the future.

Postcard with Slavic traditions

In the minds of the Belarusian people, the New Year has always been inextricably linked with Christmas, so pre-revolutionary artists painted traditional New Year landscapes on postcards: snow-covered forests, troikas of horses and churches. It was always something very sweet, discreet, but very elegant.

In Russia, special attention was paid to materials for making New Year's cards. Especially if these were custom-made postcards: in this case, the craftsmen used shiny chips and even gold stamping.

After the revolution, the life of the New Year's card ceased to exist for some time, because it became a symbol of everything bourgeois, unnecessary to Soviet people. Any reminders of Christmas were forbidden: under pain cruel punishment New Year trees disappeared from houses, there were no postcards in principle. But greeting cards have endured this struggle for existence.

After the resumption new year tradition on postcards in without fail painted Kremlin stars. This emphasized that the onset of the New Year is marked by the chimes, and not by the ringing of church bells. The New Year's card has become a means of propaganda: during space exploration, Santa Claus did not ride a troika, but flew on an airplane or rocket, during Prohibition, all postcards with any glasses disappeared ...

But the New Year card played a special role during the Great Patriotic War when she, in fact, returned after several decades of bans. Only these were not simple New Year's cards with a wish for happiness. "New Year's greetings to the heroic defenders of the Motherland!" - so it was New Year's greetings that time. To match him was a wish: “Warrior of the Red Army! Take an example from the heroes of the Civil War! Be a hero! On the postcard were placed images of heroes from which to take an example: Chapaev, Shchors and Kotovsky. On the other side military postcard there was another call to everything the Soviet people“Happy New Year, comrade soldiers, commanders and political workers! In the name of the Motherland, forward, to the complete defeat of the enemy! This postcard was issued in Moscow in 1941.

Post-war postcards today seem to us homely, glorifying a peaceful life. After the hardships of war, New Year's cards with their beauty touched the most hidden strings of the soul, accustomed to the hardships and horror of war. Therefore, it is not so important what is depicted on the New Year's card. A person who takes it in his hands, a feeling of celebration, childhood and a miracle is born. And kind words from dear people filled with confidence that everything will be fine in the coming year.

It is a pity that today before the New Year our mailboxes are no longer inundated with congratulations, as in old days when every self-respecting citizen of a vast country, long before the Kremlin chimes, diligently signed an incredible number of New Year's cards to relatives, friends and acquaintances. We ourselves have deprived ourselves of the pleasure of sorting through the contents of a box of commemorative postcards, as our parents and grandparents did.

So, can we regain the joy of touching congratulations?

Sources:
kulina.ru
woman-party.ru
marinni.livejournal.com
pikiblog.ru

Interesting Facts

Editor

Specialist in applied linguistics, Master of Russian Philology, work on press releases for the Department of Health of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration (3 years). Full member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (membership card No. 26357), blogger. Personal website: http://innagrey.com/

The history of New Year's greetings: from the first postcards to the latest applications!

Do you know who and when sent the first New Year's greeting card and what was on it?

The year is coming to an end, we are preparing for the upcoming series winter holidays, and at this time, with special warmth, each of us treats congratulations. New Year and Christmas are the main holidays of the year, so all the attention of families is focused on meeting this ancient holiday.

It doesn't matter how old you are, how much money you have or where you are! Receive and give congratulations that sound important, bright words coming from the heart, it is pleasant for everyone.

How did our ancestors do it and when did the tradition of exchanging New Year's greetings appear?

The very first New Year cards: China, England, Russia

The tradition of wishing well for the coming year began in China over a thousand years ago. Then the guests, who did not find the owners of the house, wrote on the cards attached to the gifts who came. These were not quite congratulations, but a little later, wishes were added to the name and surname for long years, happiness, prosperity and health. It can be assumed that they were first new year greetings.

But the very first postcard was invented in England by a certain Henry Cole who wanted to send Merry Christmas and Happy New Year greetings to all his friends by mail.

To do this, he asked John Gersley to develop a sketch of a future greeting card, from which 1000 copies were then made.

The idea gained immense popularity and instantly grew into a real industry. In the yard was the distant 1843rd.

Postcards came to Russia in the 19th century thanks to merchants. No one expected that here they would develop into real art and surpass their English roots many times over in beauty. It cannot be said that before that the Slavs did not congratulate each other on the New Year, it’s just that this holiday was in second place after Christmas, although it was inextricably linked with it. Lubok pictures, which showed a happy large family, served as congratulatory images.

With the advent of the idea of ​​real postcards, Russian masters began to make them using traditional folk motives and landscapes - snowy forests, houses with snow caps, sleighs, Christmas games on fresh air playing children.

According to one version, the first postcard was created in 1901 by Nikolai Karazin, according to another, its authorship in 1912 was assigned to the artist and library director Fyodor Berenshtam.

Postcards for private family congratulations were real works of art: gold, embossing, amazing painting, mounds of crystalline boric acid to simulate snow, and much more were created warm atmosphere New Year's miracle

For official congratulations such excesses were not used, postcards were simple, restrained.

Complete destruction of the holiday spirit

The revolution changed not only appearance New Year cards, but also destroyed the very spiritual essence of the holiday. Congratulatory cards began to have an exclusively socio-political propaganda character. Mentions of Christmas were completely forbidden and prosecuted. Christmas trees have disappeared as an integral part of the celebration ...

After the creation of the USSR, these fetters fell somewhat, but at the top forest beauties on postcards certainly flaunted red five pointed star, the Kremlin wall and the clock tower were drawn. Only they and nothing else proclaimed and controlled the coming of the New Year. After the beginning of space exploration, Santa Claus moved from the sleigh to the plane and the rocket.

During the Second World War, holiday cards ceased to be essentially congratulations, serving as an inspiration to the morale of the defenders at the front. The phrases on the postcards urged them to be heroes, to hold out to the bitter end, and on the postcards themselves they printed portraits of Chapaev, Kotovsky, Shchors.

The post-war years breathed new life to the postcard industry. Each of them sang a peaceful life, happy families, prosperity and just shone with happiness and solar heat. Many of our grandparents, mothers and fathers keep such postcards in boxes reverently and neatly. No wonder, because more than ever, a postcard at that time conveyed endless happiness from the fact that the time had come for rebirth and peace in every home and country on our planet.

International traditions

In Japan, it is customary to send hundreds of cards even before the arrival of the new year to all friends, relatives and colleagues not with congratulations, but with gratitude for the fact that they are in your life. Traditionally, a Japanese postcard ends with words of hope that next year good relations will be preserved. Japanese - beyond social people, And a good relationship with a colleague, relatives, neighbors, and even shop assistants, wishes for personal wealth, health, etc. are much more important to them. The pictures show animal mascots of the coming year - this is a good sign.

In Austria, traditional images for New Year's cards are folk symbols of good luck and prosperity: a chimney sweep, a four-leaf clover and a pig.

A new level of good traditions

“Well, who sends postcards in the mail today?” - you ask and in some way you will be right. It is not surprising that with the development information technologies paper and paint have lost their priority and receded before digital desires. Which cardboard box can combine both music and animation, sound wishes and other features modern congratulations? And sending to the addressee's house takes time ...

This earlier people traveled less, postcards arrived on time and straight to their homes. Today, the priority is speed, mobility and availability. Therefore, everyone who has one wants to have a congratulatory application in their phone!

Despite the fact that New Year's greetings have moved into the virtual plane, the emotions that they give can quite realistically fill your heart with warmth and light.

My secret santa» , which can be downloaded, will allow you to anonymously send a poem, confession or sincere wishes for the New Year anywhere in the world! Express warmth, wish joy, kindness, prosperity, well-being, health, love, and the program will randomly select a recipient from the list of application owners. You can read congratulations to your address after December 31.

present small miracle and a piece of kindness completely strangers because it's so nice!

It is known that the Chinese used analogues of modern greeting cards more than a thousand years ago. But initially, only the name of the person who paid a visit to the owner of the house, but did not find the latter on the spot, was indicated on them.

Obviously, at first there were inscriptions accompanying new Year gifts, and then - and actually congratulations. The wishes that accompanied these gifts are interesting. Most often they wished (as in our time) happiness, health, longevity and prosperity. But on the island of Helgoland in the Baltic Sea, people from ancient times wished each other a "peaceful heart."

It is believed that the custom is to exchange for the New Year greeting cards originated in England. The first to send New Year's greetings by mail was the Englishman Henry Cole, congratulating his friends on the upcoming 1843. Later, it was he who turned to his friend John Gersley with a request to draw a New Year's card. From this sketch, the first batch was printed in London, consisting of a thousand copies of New Year's cards.

Since then, the custom of congratulating your loved ones and friends on the New Year with postcards has conquered the whole world. This tradition came to Russia directly from England. Lubok pictures popular among the Russian people can be considered the prototype of domestic greeting cards.

IN pre-revolutionary Russia such postcards depicted landscapes of winter Russian nature with snow-covered huts, as well as dashing Russian troikas. The process of creating congratulatory postcards involved the best professionals business: artists, printers, and later photographers. Competitions were announced among them, exhibitions were organized, catalogs were issued. It is known that such well-known artists as A. Benois, L. Bakst, K. Makovsky, N. Roerich were involved in the creation of domestic postcards.

Over the years in different countries formed their own national traditions. In Japan, for example, there is a tradition of giving cards before the New Year with the image of an animal that corresponds to this year according to the eastern horoscope. Such New Year's cards are the inhabitants of the Country rising sun send hundreds to each other. They usually thank their relatives and friends for all the good things that happened in the past year, and express the hope for the continuation of friendly relations in the future.

In Austria, it is a very common custom to send out New Year's cards with national symbols happiness. Such postcards usually feature a chimney sweep, a four-leaf clover, and a pig.

And the owner of the largest collection of New Year's cards, the Guinness Book of Records calls the Canadian Bout, who collected 205,120 copies.

Today, New Year's sales and bazaars are full of beautiful and original postcards made in the most different techniques: metal, silk, holography. Embossed, voluminous, musical postcards. There are special services of graphic designers for the production of exclusive New Year's cards.

❀ DIY New Year's cards

It is a pity that now, before the New Year, our mailboxes are no longer littered with congratulations, as in the past. Soviet times. We have deprived ourselves of the pleasure of sorting through the contents of a box of commemorative greeting cards, as our parents did. But it is not too late to correct this situation.