Greeting Cards - or how an Egyptian learned Chinese

So one New Years Day in China an incredibly long time ago someone was so happy about the possibilities the new year would bring they decided to share their delight. They sent a greeting card to a friend. Probably not the type of greeting card we exchange filled with wit and sarcasm, animals doing strange things or whimsical drawings of inanimate objects brought to life. Probably more along the lines of Gung Hay Fat Choy… You know, traditional Chinese New Year’s greetings.

Along the way in history, Ancient Egyptians grabbed the idea. Perhaps an Egyptian was traveling through Shanghai Province on camelback at the turn of the year and was greeted by an exuberant Chinese man. The Chinese man exclaimed, ‘Gung Hay Fat Choy’ and gave the Egyptian a small red envelope. The Egyptian didn’t speak Chinese (this is an assumption on my part) but was thinking, ‘this Chinese guy is smiling and that is an awfully pretty red envelope,’ and so gave the Chinese man a papyrus scroll filled with hieroglyphics as a way of saying Thank You. Probably the only thing he had on him at the time worth sharing. This same Egyptian then took the idea back to his homeland and began sharing papyrus greetings with all his friends… You’re getting the picture.

Now, disclaimer here, this is simply speculation on my part. But really, there were ancient Chinese and Egyptians and camels are real enough, so the above scenario is possible given the history. I’m just filling in some creative blanks.

Let's fast forward to the early 15^th century. According to some historians the Egyptian tradition moved from papyrus to paper (they share many of the same letters) and handmade greeting cards, including valentines, were being exchanged in Europe. Doesn’t love spur us on to some fabulous ideas? I love valentines!

Thanks to advances in mass printing by the latter part of the 1800’s greeting cards became more mainstream and less expensive. Mere commoners could send notes of greeting to one another. Christmas cards made their debut around the same time and companies devoted to the creation of greeting cards began to pop up.

via Dreamstime

So when did greeting cards get humorous? Rumour has it between 1940 and 1950 someone took their wit and humour and transferred it to a greeting card. What was funny in 1945? World War II coming to an end was certainly cause for celebration, and Rooselvelt did become president… Thinking not a lot there, but I may be desensitized to the humour thrown at me from bad sitcoms and reality television. At any rate, simple greetings gave way to funny notes and cards were used to convey a wide variety of messages and sentiments.

Today the greeting card industry generates billions of dollars annually, with ecard sales taking a good portion of that revenue. Certainly the rise of the ecard is replacing some of the ‘old fashioned’ hand written notes, but I’ll take old fashioned. I love cards. Sending them and receiving them is a joy. A hand written thank you is still appropriate for so many occasions (you’re welcome to send me one to share your thoughts about this post). I’ve intentionally stocked hundreds of cards in my shop and they continue to be best sellers. Our reputation for having unusual and beautiful cards is growing, so I’d say many of you love them too!

When do you send a hand written greeting card? I’d love to see your comments below.

Terri