The miracle of the Christmas card

On January 7, we celebrated one of the brightest holidays – Christmas. On this day, many of us received a lot of greeting cards in messengers. But when did this tradition appear? What were the first Christmas cards like? When did they appear in Russia?

This Christmas weekend, by chance, on an uncomfortable frosty day, when I didn't want to walk for a long time or drive far, but I wanted to get out to some kind of event, I went to the Museum of Communications, which is on Pochtamskaya Street in St. Petersburg. I wanted to look at old phones and listen to the sounds of communication signals. On the way to these expositions, I saw stands with wonderful postcards. There were also chubby-cheeked children enjoying winter fun, with angels, harsh winter landscapes or Christ in a manger. The captions read: "Merry Christmas", "Christmas wiches", "Merry Christmas".

The dates were very different, the style too. I wanted to know when it appeared at all – a Christmas card?
According to the Gospel, the Virgin Mary gave birth to Christ in a stable, since there was no other place in Bethlehem where she came with Joseph. Therefore, the newborn baby was placed in a manger, and the shepherds were the first to learn about his birth. It was here that the Magi came to worship the one whose birth was announced to them by the Star of Bethlehem. The Magi brought gifts with them: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Since then, the fir tree, the Star of Bethlehem, and Christmas gifts have been companions. Why spruce? It was believed that spruce branches covered the entrance to the barn where Jesus was born. The star of Bethlehem began to be attached to the top of a festive fir tree. Over time, the gifts of the Magi turned into Christmas gifts, which are usually given primarily to children.
When and where did the first Christmas cards appear? It turns out that the first attempts to create a Christmas card are attributed to the Englishman Dobson, who in 1792 drew, lithographed and sent out several dozen cards depicting a family scene near the Christmas tree. Later, an Englishman, G. Cole, wanted to congratulate his many friends and relatives on Christmas, but realized that he could not cope with the congratulatory letters himself. And he wanted to please everyone. Then Cole assigned the task to the artist J. Horsley, who hand-made identical cards depicting the Coles at a festive dinner. The idea was picked up all over Europe. Postcards began to be printed and sent to those with whom it was impossible to get away for Christmas. The first batches of illustrated postcards were published in 1843.
What was depicted on the Christmas cards? Initially, they could see Jesus Christ in a manger or a flying angel with a star, a star and angels looking like small children.

A branch of mistletoe was also depicted – a favorite Christmas decoration in England.

On the postcards, you could also see chubby-cheeked girls, naughty boys, and family plots.

Some of the postcards were filled with instructive meaning. Their plot was intended to show the child that Christmas miracles appear in the lives of obedient and God-fearing children.

In Russia, the first postcards appeared only by the end of the 19th century, in 1989. At first, merchants imported foreign postcards. They were expensive, but very popular. Later, domestic postcards appeared. It is believed that the author of the first of them was the artist Fyodor Bernstam. Among the authors of pre-revolutionary postcards were artists: Alexander Benoit, Lev Bakst, Konstantin Makovsky, Nikolai Roerich. The postcards of illustrator Elizabeth Boehm have become extremely popular. It was the stand with her postcards that attracted my attention for a long time.

Her special style of writing, the mood of her postcards were especially bright and interesting.

In Russia, postcards became so popular that they were sent not only to far-away relatives and friends. It was customary to send them to all friends and even neighbors. Why? Because they were not just postcards, but small masterpieces. These postcards have a place for traditional Christian themes, temples, and a Russian village lost in the snow and a reckless sledge driver rushing with the wind to celebrate Christmas with his family in comfort and warmth.