Read The Top 40 Traditions of Christmas: The Story Behind the Nativity, Candy Canes, Caroling, and All Things Christmas for Free Online Page A
Authors: David McLaughlan
So, by common consensus, they agree on the first year AD, but it could have been a year or two earlier, or several years later.
These days the date is, thankfully, more certain, and people can plan in advance. Christmas, perhaps more than any other holiday, is the time families want to be together. Airports and railroads will be busier in the lead-up to December 25 than at any other time of the year.
How long they stay after that depends on how well the family gets on and how soon the Christmas spirit wears off!
Why?
As families, we are often more like groups of individuals, and that can cause friction, but Christmas is a reason to come together that is bigger than any one of us. The reason at the heart of it all is love, and no matter how badly or otherwise we get on with our families, deep down we all want to be loved by them. That longing may have been what brought God down to earth to be with His children.
Christmas is about God and family. If you can be with your family, then love them for His sake. If you can’t, then gather some of His other children to you and love
them.
18
Greetings Cards
Who?
The Chinese invented greetings cards. They (and much later the Egyptians) sent cards celebrating the New Year.
Homemade cards were probably being exchanged for different events, including Christmas, before Sir Henry Cole produced the first commercially available Christmas card. He designed the world’s first stamp, invented a prize-winning teapot, and wrote children’s books. As founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, he had the ear of the royal family and was often affectionately referred to as “Old King Cole” by the press.
The man who painted the template for the card was John Callcott Horsley, who painted some of the artwork currently decorating the British Houses of Parliament.
What?
The ancient Egyptians sent New Year greetings on papyrus scrolls. Fifteenth-century Germans made them from woodcuts. Before 1843 they would have been handwritten and hand delivered. Even after Sir Henry Cole’s invention, many would keep on being handmade, his printed ones being quite expensive at a shilling apiece.
Mass production brought the price down and helped create a major industry.
The very first Christmas card showed a family celebrating but also depicted the feeding of the hungry and clothing of the poor, intentions the One whose birthday Christmas represents would surely have appreciated.
Printed on the front were the words, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.”
Where?
The cards sent in ancient China and ancient Egypt were only for the ruling classes. The postal services that followed were highly localized and only for the wealthy.
In 1680 the Penny Post system was introduced in London, bringing the service within reach of ordinary people who wanted to send letters within ten miles of that city. In 1792 Benjamin Franklin set up the forerunner of the U.S. Postal Service.
The idea spread, and delivery costs came down to the point where even worldwide mail became affordable. Now people can send cards to friends and relatives in almost every corner of the world. And they do! Basically, wherever there is a postal system, someone will be sending greetings cards.
When?
Sir Henry Cole produced the first commercial Christmas cards in 1843.
He had taken part in the reform of the Penny Post, only three years before, so getting people to post cards at Christmas probably served his bank balance very well.
In 1875 German émigré Louis Prang brought the tradition of the printed card to America. Though he produced many different types of printed material, he is principally known today as “the father of the American Christmas card.”
In the mid-1980s greeting cards of all kinds moved into the electronic age, and for the first time, people with Internet access were able to send “cards” to each other via
These days the date is, thankfully, more certain, and people can plan in advance. Christmas, perhaps more than any other holiday, is the time families want to be together. Airports and railroads will be busier in the lead-up to December 25 than at any other time of the year.
How long they stay after that depends on how well the family gets on and how soon the Christmas spirit wears off!
Why?
As families, we are often more like groups of individuals, and that can cause friction, but Christmas is a reason to come together that is bigger than any one of us. The reason at the heart of it all is love, and no matter how badly or otherwise we get on with our families, deep down we all want to be loved by them. That longing may have been what brought God down to earth to be with His children.
Christmas is about God and family. If you can be with your family, then love them for His sake. If you can’t, then gather some of His other children to you and love
them.
18
Greetings Cards
Who?
The Chinese invented greetings cards. They (and much later the Egyptians) sent cards celebrating the New Year.
Homemade cards were probably being exchanged for different events, including Christmas, before Sir Henry Cole produced the first commercially available Christmas card. He designed the world’s first stamp, invented a prize-winning teapot, and wrote children’s books. As founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, he had the ear of the royal family and was often affectionately referred to as “Old King Cole” by the press.
The man who painted the template for the card was John Callcott Horsley, who painted some of the artwork currently decorating the British Houses of Parliament.
What?
The ancient Egyptians sent New Year greetings on papyrus scrolls. Fifteenth-century Germans made them from woodcuts. Before 1843 they would have been handwritten and hand delivered. Even after Sir Henry Cole’s invention, many would keep on being handmade, his printed ones being quite expensive at a shilling apiece.
Mass production brought the price down and helped create a major industry.
The very first Christmas card showed a family celebrating but also depicted the feeding of the hungry and clothing of the poor, intentions the One whose birthday Christmas represents would surely have appreciated.
Printed on the front were the words, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.”
Where?
The cards sent in ancient China and ancient Egypt were only for the ruling classes. The postal services that followed were highly localized and only for the wealthy.
In 1680 the Penny Post system was introduced in London, bringing the service within reach of ordinary people who wanted to send letters within ten miles of that city. In 1792 Benjamin Franklin set up the forerunner of the U.S. Postal Service.
The idea spread, and delivery costs came down to the point where even worldwide mail became affordable. Now people can send cards to friends and relatives in almost every corner of the world. And they do! Basically, wherever there is a postal system, someone will be sending greetings cards.
When?
Sir Henry Cole produced the first commercial Christmas cards in 1843.
He had taken part in the reform of the Penny Post, only three years before, so getting people to post cards at Christmas probably served his bank balance very well.
In 1875 German émigré Louis Prang brought the tradition of the printed card to America. Though he produced many different types of printed material, he is principally known today as “the father of the American Christmas card.”
In the mid-1980s greeting cards of all kinds moved into the electronic age, and for the first time, people with Internet access were able to send “cards” to each other via
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