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__NOTOC__[[File:12883749.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Figure 1. A papyrus greeting card. ]]Whether its the holidays or occasions that we want to celebrate, greeting cards are fixed in Western cultures today and giving them to friends or acquaintances seems second nature to us. How did this tradition develop? As one might expect, greeting cards developed from more ancient roots. Additionally, the use and intention of greeting cards has also changed, where cultural interests and changes applied in time have developed our current traditions and those used around the world.
====Origin of Greeting Cards====[[File:0592e8670e3d3d28a5ec093e9dbd0217.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Figure 2. The oldest known Valentine's Day love letter and form of greeting card known in the English language is from Margery Brews dated to 1477. ]]Greeting cards have their origin perhaps soon after the invention of writing. Already in ancient Sumerian culture in the 3rd millennium BCE, clay tablets have been found with greetings that maybe have been sent as a card of well-wishing. In Bronze Age China and Egypt, these societies show evidence of personalized messages sent to others celebrating the New Year or providing well wishes at the end of the year (Figure 1). In fact, this is the origin of New Year greeting cards. In China, the idea was to send messages to ward off the evil spirit Nian, who would terrorize people at the end of the year. Cards would be given at the beginning of the year and the cards were intended to have luck or power to help ward off the evil spirit for the entire year, with the tradition renewed each new year. The presence of evil spirits and the wishing away of evil in the Near Year are still part of celebrations of the Chinese New Year. In Egypt, among the earliest personalized greeting cards have been found, where named individuals wishing well to other named individuals has been found. The idea was to send personalized greetings in the New Year, in a way similar to Chinese New Year culture, but rather than warding evil spirits the idea was to wish someone well and celebrate the beginning of the new life cycle that would begin in the New Year. For Egypt, the calendar would begin with the rising of the star Sothis, or our star Sirius, sometime around August/September. For Chinese traditions, New Year was generally around January/February, where the tradition follows a lunar calendar.<ref>For more on the earliest forms of greeting cards, see: Dasgupta, A. K. (2014). <i>Arts, crafts and traditional industries</i>. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, pg. 6. </ref>
====Development and Meaning Today====Greeting cards did not evolve a lot more during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The well-known company Hallmark Cards Inc. was founded in 1910 in Kansas City. The company initially started out by selling postcards but by 1912 began to focus on writing letters and cards. In 1917, the company even developed what would become gift wrapping paper. In the US, Hallmark soon began to dominate the market by the 1920s. With the introduction of better color printing and color lithography in the 1930s, greeting cards experienced a renewal of even greater interest by the public. This renewal of interest led to more experimentation with how to use cards, such as the development of humorous cards that went beyond simply wishing someone well or giving affection to someone. The development of humorous and different types of non-edifying cards developed as a reaction to Hallmark and other major manufacturers dominating the market, as smaller manufacturers looked for niche markets. Many of the cards of the larger companies were seen as static or impersonal. Humorous cards became of greater interest as a way to seem more personal and different from what might be normally expected. More recently, new ideas in greeting cards have extended to areas such as recyclable cards or cards made of recycled materials as a way to increase interest by more environmentally-conscious customers. Even more recently in the Internet Age, e-cards, including animated cards, are an extension of this and represent the next level of development companies and entrepreneurs have developed in the greeting card industry.<ref>For more on the development of the American greeting card industry, see: Shank, B. (2004). <i>A token of my affection: greeting cards and American business culture</i>. New York: Columbia University Press.</ref>
==Traditions ==Greeting Cards Around the World====While in the US, mass-produced cards have become the norm, other countries have either been influenced by this or have developed their own traditions. In the UK, there are perhaps among the highest number of publishers focused on greeting cards, where the tradition of sending greeting cards is not only well established but is also among the most profitable. Over 1.5 billion cards are sent by UK publishers alone, making it the highest number on a per-capita basis. While many traditional publishers have suffered, they have also adapted by making more creative ways to send personalized messages and cards as well as using digital media.<ref>For more on today's greeting card industry, see: http://www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk/resources/for-publishers/the-market/facts-and-figures </ref>
In Japan, greeting cards that have combined other popular culture themes, such as Hello Kitty, have become popular for people to send on different occasions. In Germany, birthdays such as 18th birthday and 25th birthday have led to developed specialized cards for these occasions. In India and among Hindu cultures, Dewali, the Hindu festival of lights, is a popular holiday when cards are exchanged. These often show fireworks or light displays that reflect the victory of light over darkness. In Muslim traditions, Ramadan is a holiday where well-wishers send each other greeting cards. In particular, Eid, which celebrates the end of the Ramadan fast period, greeting cards are sent with celebrations that include food and sweets. For Jewish tradition, both Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah are popular holidays in exchanging greeting cards.<ref>For greeting card traditions around the world, see: Williams, V. (2017).<i> Celebrating life customs around the world: from baby showers to funerals</i>. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.</ref>
====Summary==== Greeting cards are a tradition that goes back to the early days of writing. New Year festivals were initially the most common period when greeting cards were sent, as they reflected a time where one would want to keep evil spirits away or ask for good fortune in the year. Valentine's day in the Medieval period became popular for greeting cards, but that period saw a limited use for greeting cards. In the mid-19th century, Christmas cards became popularized and soon other holidays and birthdays began to adopt the idea of using greeting cards to send to family, friends, and loved ones. ====References====<references/>