OCR Text |
Show ,1 i Pagans Also Sent 1 New Year's Cards 1 I 1 ' Here in America the popular and evergrowing custom of exchanging i New Year's greeting cards is of J fairly recent origin, but actually the i New Year's card antedates the . more familiar Christmas card by several hundred years. ) With Christmas our greatest na- tional holiday, most of us are inclined in-clined to think of New Year's as a sort of happy afterthought. The fact ! is, it is one of the oldest of festivals, - dating back to pagan times. In cer- ! . tain countries of Europe where Christmas is observed as a purely , j religious festival, New Year's takes , ! the form of a real feast day and its celebration is marked by rejoicing f and the exchange of gifts and greet- i Ings. t The earliest known New Year's ( "greetings" were medals marked t with good wishes which date back c to the reign of the Roman Emperor :-r , 4 ' : .v:y ntw , I I ; i a r u ii- h 1 ' - . lt e: I -A-h-v kiw mc yM iife-. il d' I (i r s u-.n h oil nm i uri ! k rr i " SI Commodus (180-192). And while lh New Year's cards long have been a 1,1 ! tradition in China, where the tech- p( nique of printing was invented, the W first European New Year's card we have record of is of German origin, ori-gin, dating back to the 1450s. It ti( depicts the Christ Child and a chest j or overflowing with good wishes. An- j es other card of the same period has se a treasure ship as its central design. 19 Our present-day New Year's cards have an impressive history behind them. With their ' festive confetti-colors confetti-colors and "Baby New Year," "Fa- ..c ther Time," bells and balloons, they . , mi serve as messages of the good will we feel toward our friends and n0 neighbors, and of our hope for "A j Prosperous and Happy New Year!" jl |