home › Fuel system › Original postcards with Santa Claus of the Soviet period. Santa Claus in space, in war and hockey: a review of the most original New Year's cards of the Soviet era Soviet postcards with Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden

Original postcards with Santa Claus of the Soviet period. Santa Claus in space, in war and hockey: a review of the most original New Year's cards of the Soviet era Soviet postcards with Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden

Original postcards with Santa Claus Soviet period

A little background

In 1918, the Soviet government resolutely abandoned greeting cards, declaring them "a relic of the bourgeois past." Not only Christmas, but also New Year no longer considered a public holiday. Of course, the latter continued to be celebrated - quietly and at home, without discharged Christmas trees, chiming clocks and illustrated postcards. turning point was the Great Patriotic War.

The exact date of the "rehabilitation" of the New Year's card is not known for certain: some sources point to 1942, others - to 1944. The party leadership changed its mind when soviet soldiers began to send colorful European-style greeting cards to their relatives. A decision was issued to launch the production of "ideologically consistent" postcards.

For example, Santa Claus of wartime was generous with gifts, and also ... severe and merciless to enemies.

So Unknown artist depicted the meeting of the New Year 1943.

Soviet New Year's cards of the post-war decade

Already in the 1950s, mass production of the Soviet New Year's postcard was launched. The first to see the world were postcards-photos, supplemented by appropriate inscriptions. The circle of characters was then limited to sportswomen-Komsomol-beauties...

... cheerful chubby peanuts ...

... and ordinary Soviet workers against the backdrop of the Kremlin.

In 1960s production Soviet postcards rose to the level of art, in which an unexpected variety reigned fine styles and methods. Tired of drawing monotonous propaganda posters, the artists, as they say, came off to the fullest.

It began with the return of the classic duet Ded Moroz + Snegurochka.

Soon there was a fashion for cheerful little animals. The most recognizable were numerous scenes with the participation of eared and tailed ones, drawn by Vladimir Ivanovich Zarubin.

For postcards, the plots of Russian folk tales were also taken.

Not without the influence of the current slogans of that time - from the development of production and sports achievements to the conquest of space.

Bragintsev sent Santa Claus to the construction site.

A. Laptev appointed a skiing bunny as a postman.

Chetverikov depicted the most New Year's hockey match with referee Moroz.

New Year in Space

But the main leitmotif was the discovery of the world of stars and distant planets. Space often became the plot dominant of the image.

Introducing elements of fantasy into their works, the illustrators expressed their wildest dreams of a brighter future and the conquest of the Universe.

And after some time, the industry produced the widest range of postcards, pleasantly pleasing to the eye on the windows of newsstands filled with traditionally discreet printed materials.

And although the quality of printing and the brightness of the colors of Soviet postcards were inferior to imported ones, these shortcomings were redeemed by the originality of the plots and high professionalism artists.

The true heyday of the Soviet New Year's card came in the 60s. The number of plots has increased: there are such motives as space exploration, the struggle for peace. Winter landscapes were crowned with wishes: "May the New Year bring success in sports!"

In the creation of postcards, a motley variety of styles and methods reigned. Although, of course, it could not do without interweaving the content of newspaper editorials into the New Year theme.
As the well-known collector Yevgeny Ivanov jokingly remarks, on postcards “Soviet Santa Claus actively participates in social and industrial life Soviet people: he is a railway worker at BAM, flies into space, melts metal, works on a computer, delivers mail, etc.

His hands are constantly busy with business - perhaps that is why Santa Claus carries a bag of gifts much less often ... ". By the way, the book by E. Ivanov "New Year and Christmas in Postcards", which seriously analyzes the plots of postcards from the point of view of their special symbolism, proves that there is much more meaning in an ordinary postal card than it might seem at first glance ...

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New Year cards Soviet times is a whole culture that reflects the importance of certain events that took place in the country at a certain time. Moreover, the traditional hero, invariably appearing on every postcard, was Santa Claus.

Although the story did not even begin with Santa Claus, but the holiday itself - the New Year. No matter how surprising it may sound, but the usual New Year attributes returned to the country only after October revolution. Until that time, Christmas trees were strictly forbidden by the Holy Synod, which called them "a German, enemy idea that is alien to the Russian Orthodox people."

At the very beginning of their reign, the Bolsheviks reacted quite adequately to everything "New Year's". There is even a painting depicting Lenin on a children's New Year's party.

However, already in 1926, the power of the soviets officially banned the organization in the homes of individual citizens and in Soviet institutions "so-called Christmas holidays", which allegedly carried the "anti-Soviet legacy of the damned past."

But simple people continued to celebrate the New Year in secret. And even Stalin could not change anything. As a result, the party leadership was forced to "recognize" the holiday, before that giving it a "socialist coloring". home Christmas tree The countries of the Soviets first appeared in Moscow in December 1937.

New Year's cards of that period from Santa Claus have not reached us, most likely they simply did not exist. But postcards from the times of the Great Patriotic War sometimes simply amazed with their propaganda coloring. On some of them, Santa Claus hurried to the holiday with a bag of gifts and a machine gun in his hands.

No less creative emanates from the postcards of the sixties. After the triumphant flight of Gagarin main theme space becomes in the country. And now, on each postcard, Santa Claus joyfully meets astronauts with a watch in his hand. And some pictures already show the grandfather himself in space.

The main aspirations of the era were invested in everyone's favorite look Santa Claus. And when new districts were massively erected in the USSR, our unchanging hero from the postcard carries a bag with gifts precisely to the new buildings.

And, for example, before 1980 Olympics on many postcards, he is depicted with an Olympic bear, soccer balls and other paraphernalia.

Undoubtedly, since the 50s, many New Year's cards with the usual image of Santa Claus. However, those that are directly related to the era are of the greatest interest.

The last weeks before the New Year - it's time to stock up on postcards and other nice little things as a gift to friends and family. In anticipation of the holiday, he made another digression into history and prepared a review of the most original New Year's cards Soviet era.

A little background

In 1918, the Soviet government resolutely abandoned greeting cards, declaring them "a relic of the bourgeois past." Not only Christmas, but also the New Year is no longer considered a holiday. Of course, the latter continued to be celebrated - quietly and at home, without discharged Christmas trees, chiming clocks and illustrated postcards. The turning point was the Great Patriotic War. The exact date of the "rehabilitation" of the New Year's card is not known for certain: some sources point to 1942, others - to 1944. The party leadership changed its mind when Soviet soldiers began to send colorful European-style greeting cards to their families. A decision was issued to launch the production of "ideologically consistent" postcards.

For example, Santa Claus of wartime was generous with gifts, and also ... severe and merciless to enemies.

This is how an unknown artist depicted the meeting of the New Year of 1943.

Cheerful chubby peanuts ...

And ordinary Soviet workers against the backdrop of the Kremlin.

In the 1960s, the production of Soviet postcards rose to the level of art, in which an unexpected variety of pictorial styles and methods reigned. Tired of drawing monotonous propaganda posters, the artists, as they say, came off to the fullest.

It began with the return of the classic duet Ded Moroz + Snegurochka.

Soon there was a fashion for cheerful little animals. The most recognizable were numerous scenes with the participation of eared and tailed ones, drawn Vladimir Ivanovich Zarubin.

For postcards, the plots of Russian folk tales were also taken.

Not without the influence of the current slogans of that time - from the development of production and sports achievements to the conquest of space.

Bragintsev sent Santa Claus to the construction site.

A. Laptev appointed a skiing bunny as a postman.

Chetverikov depicted the most New Year's hockey match with referee Frost.

New Year in Space

But the main leitmotif was the discovery of the world of stars and distant planets. Space often became the plot dominant of the image.

Introducing elements of fantasy into their works, the illustrators expressed their wildest dreams of a brighter future and the conquest of the Universe.