The Origins of Christmas Cards
According to B.K. Swartz, Jr. in his “The Origin of American Christmas Myth and Customs,” The salutation, “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,” may have first appeared in 17th century European correspondence. Says Swartz, “Merry is probably of English origin and was introduced to America in Dickens’ time.” In Clement Moore’s poem (l822) “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (or as we know it now, “Twas the Night Before Christmas”) the reader is addressed with the phrase “Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.”
The Old English origin for Merry is myrige [pleasing, delightful]; of Germanic origin it is related related to mirth.
“Christmas cards were first printed in London, England. They were designed by John Calcott Horsley of the Royal Academy for Sir Henry Cole in 1843 and were sold at Felix Summerly’s Home Treasury Office. The greeting was “A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.” A portrayal of a child sipping wine in a toast on the central panel caused a stir with temperance groups. Cards were first mailed (to friends) by W. C. Dobson (Queen Victoria’s favorite painter) in 1845. First mailings in U. S. were in 1846. Louis Prang, a Boston lithographer, marketed multicolored Christmas Cards in Europe in 1865, and in the U. S. in 1875. He made Christmas Cards popular. Mailing was expanded with the “penny post card,” 1893. Half-tone engravings appear in 1900. The home photograph card begins in 1902 by Eastman Kodak.”
Harper’s Bazaar, December 9, 1876.
Odd facts about Father Christmas:
Father Christmas (later Santa Clause) was part of an old English midwinter festival and was normally depicted as dressed in green—a sign of the returning Spring.
Father Christmas was also known as ‘Sir Christmas,’ ‘Old Father Christmas,’ or ‘Old Winter.’
Father Christmas was not a bringer of gifts, nor did his slide down a chimney, but walked from home to home, feasting with families and then moving on to the next house.
Father Christmas was dressed in a red coat in the 1930s in an advertisement by Coca-Cola.
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. ~Charles Dickens
I stopped believing in Santa Claus when my mother took me to see him in a department store, and he asked for my autograph. ~Shirley Temple
Don’t expect too much of Christmas Day. You can’t crowd into it any arrears of unselfishness and kindliness that may have accrued during the past twelve months. ~Oren Arnold
Christmas is forced upon a reluctant and disgusted nation by the shopkeepers and the press; on its own merits it would wither and shrivel in the fiery breath of universal hatred. ~George Bernard Shaw
Christmas is a time when everybody wants his past forgotten and his present remembered. What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day. ~Phyllis Diller
