Easter

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

s are a form of postcard that people send to each other at

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

. They have now mostly changed to

e-cards E-card is an electronic postcard or greeting card, with the primary difference being that it is created using digital media instead of paper or other traditional materials. E-cards are made available many different ways, usually on various Inter ...

rather than postcards, but their purpose remains the same.

History

The tradition of sending Easter postcards to relatives and friends developed during the end of the 19th century. Although only a few were sent in 1898, the cards subsequently became popular worldwide. In the beginning,

monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, monochrom ...

as well as colored cards were printed. Most of the time, the center of the cards contained an oversized egg. During the first years during which Easter postcards were sent, the front side was empty. This was the space for senders to write their greetings because post offices would only allow the address and the stamp on the back side. Because of that, the artistically precious illustrations were deformed. In 1905, post offices in Austria and Germany separated the back side of the cards into two halves. The right half served as before (for the address and the stamp) and the other half was the new space for the message. In 1906 this was officially allowed by the world-post-congress in Rome. Circa 1910, the cards were mainly monochrome pictures which were sometimes colored with children in the context with lambs, poultry, and eggs. Young girls were a symbol for luck and hope. The

Easter bunny The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit—sometimes dressed with clothes—bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" ori ...

which was a personified symbol of fruitfulness, was often portrayed with eggs. German publishers were leading in the production of Easter postcards before the First World War. During the time of the First World War, children were replaced with soldiers and a military appearance of the Easter bunny was common. After the First World War, photos no longer served as the foundation for Easter postcards; instead they featured drawn colorful Easter motives. A very popular motive was

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

in the open countryside surrounded by sheep. Cards with flowers were also common. During times of prosperity, the cards were often created using

chromolithography Chromolithography is a method for making multi-colour prints. This type of colour printing stemmed from the process of lithography, and includes all types of lithography that are printed in colour. When chromolithography is used to reproduce ph ...

. Many very impressive cards still exist with silver, gold and relief-stamping. The number of Easter postcards declined through the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Since then, the number of cards sent has declined; especially during the past decade because of the competition with

telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is i ...

and

e-mail Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic (digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

Gallery

File:Easter Postcard circa 1910.jpg, Postcard, c. 1910 File:Easter Bunny Postcard 1900.jpg, Bunny, eggs, and snowdrops, c. 1910 File:Easter Bunny Postcard 1915 Stecher.jpg, Stecher postcard, c. 1915 File:Easter card ukr leg.jpg, Ukrainian postcard File:Easter Ukrainian Postcard 3.jpg, Ukrainian postcard File:Easter card Ukr Legion.jpg, Ukrainian postcard File:Hnizdovsky Easter.gif, Ukrainian Easter card by Jacques Hnizdovsky

References

External links

3D popup card for EasterEaster Postcards, Clip Arts, Vector illustrations, IconsEaster postcards from 1898 until today - Cards from 42 countries - exhibition

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Postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

Postcards