There's something special about the first few days of spring.
Birds start chirping, green things start to tentatively unfurl in the soil, and everyone collectively holds their breath and waits for the next wintery gale to blow through.
When it doesn't come, and we finally exhale? Well, it's time to celebrate! Spring is all about the parties, starting with St. Paddy's and moving merrily along to Easter.
Whether you're religious or not, is Easter is one of those days on which families just love to congregate, preferably around a table laden with Easter ham and hand-dyed hard-boiled eggs!
If you do find yourself away from someone you care about on Easter, there's only one thing to do — send a card!
In fact, sending cards to celebrate Easter is a long and storied tradition, and the archives of the New York Public Library have some amazing examples!
Back before airplanes and freeways made congregating easy, this was the go-to move for sharing the season's greetings with your not-so-near and dear!
What do you think of these vintage cards? Let us know in the comments below!
Greeting cards, in one form or another, may date back millennia, to some of the earliest civilizations in ancient Egypt and China.
These ancient people would send commemorative notes to friends and loved ones on special occasions.
Isn't it cute that the tradition was carried on centuries later by little shepherd boys and bunny rabbits?
The form of the greeting card started to look more modern in 15th-century Germany.
Around the same time that Germans were inventing the printing press and creating copies of the Bible, other printers created woodcuts custom-designed with greetings for the New Year!
We'd love to see a medieval German woodcut of this pretty pink egg!
But it wasn't until the 19th century that a specific Easter card developed, perfect for celebrating the holiday with far-flung friends and family!
Starting in the 1890s, folks started sending small batches of handmade Easter cards in honor of the holiday.
These started out fairly simply; fancy cards like this rowing rabbit would have come later!
Post offices in Germany and Austria ended up inadvertently inventing the postcard shortly thereafter.
How? They were looking for a way to stamp and address the card without defacing the pretty illustrations!
After all, it would be tragic to scribble all over these darling baby chickens.
At first, the cards were largely monochromatic, and featured a large egg as the most prominent image.
As printing techniques grew more advanced, they became multicolored, and were designed with all sorts of merry springtime symbols, like children and flowers.
Not surprisingly, bunnies — a famous symbol of fertility and new life — are also all over the place!
Since the holiday is all about birth, resurrection, and all forms of life, these cards were a great opportunity to celebrate symbols of good luck and plenty in the springtime.
Starting around 1910, children were a very popular motif, especially little girls, who were considered symbols of good luck.
We can't think of an illustration more fitting than an egg hatching flowers that, in turn, bloom twin angels!
Sheep were also a popular motif, since pastoral life had all sorts of lovely connotations for the springtime.
Though most of us no longer worry about putting our flock out to pasture, it certainly makes for a pretty vision of the past!
This idyllic little shepherdess is giving "Mary Had a Little Lamb" a run for her money.
Around the First World War, cards began to get a bit more sober, and eventually became extremely fancy affairs, rather than the sweet and simple illustrations of the earlier days.
By the 1950s, the tradition had dropped off substantially, but we think it's about time to start bringing it back!
There's something undeniably sweet about these quaint cards and the old-fashioned tradition behind them.
If you agree, make sure to SHARE with everyone you care about this Easter!
