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, who invariably appears on every postcard, was Santa Claus.
Although the story began not even with Santa Claus, but with the holiday itself - the New Year. No matter how surprising it may sound, the usual New Year's attributes returned to the country only after the October Revolution. Until this time, holiday trees were strictly prohibited 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 of Lenin at a children's New Year's party.
However, already in 1926, the government of the soviets officially banned the organization of “so-called Christmas holidays” in the homes of individual citizens and in Soviet institutions, which allegedly carried the “anti-Soviet legacy of the damned past.”
But ordinary 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, having first given it a “socialist coloring.” home Christmas tree The Soviet Union first appeared in Moscow in December 1937.
New Year's cards from that period with Santa Claus have not reached us, most likely they simply did not exist. But postcards from the times of the Great Patriotic War were sometimes simply amazing with their propaganda coloring. In some of them, Santa Claus was hurrying to the holiday with a bag of gifts and a machine gun in his hands.
Postcards from the sixties are no less creative. After Gagarin's triumphant flight, space becomes the main topic in the country. And so, on every postcard, Santa Claus joyfully greets the astronauts with a watch in his hand. And some pictures show grandfather himself in space.
The main aspirations of the era were invested in everyone’s favorite look Santa Claus. And when new areas were being built en masse in the USSR, our constant hero from the postcard was carrying a bag of gifts 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.
Of course, since the 50s, many New Year cards have been issued with the usual image of Santa Claus. However, those that are directly related to the era are of the greatest interest.
Postcards for me are one of the memories of childhood. They came often, and during the holidays they usually came in batches, 15-20 each. We also wrote; one of the pre-holiday days was devoted to mail. It took a lot of time to complete all the cards; the geography of sending was almost the entire country.
Today - a small selection of Soviet postcards that I have preserved. Let's see what was depicted on them in the 80s, how Santa Claus and the characters changed closer to the 90s. The cards were printed in huge numbers, so maybe you will find ones that you remember yourself.
Mail, almost the only method of communication at that time, was cheap, which is why it was accessible to many. I’m unlikely to ever become a fan of the USSR, but I will always talk about Soviet postcards with warmth. Many were made with high quality, with beautiful drawings and kind characters. Among the latter is whoever you meet. Here is the traditional Father Frost, who has not yet been supplanted by Santa (I have nothing against the old man from Lapland, but now you can see him here, perhaps more often than our Grandfather). Here are happy kids on sleds, here are animals, here are cartoon characters.
Unfortunately, I do not have postcards from the 50s and 60s, where rockets, astronauts and other familiar details of that time were solemnly depicted, but something can be shown.
1. In general, I would divide postcards from the past into several groups. One of them is cards with Santa Claus. He was depicted either with funny animal helpers, like here
3. Or already racing in a troika to those who behaved well, while Santa was still preparing the reindeer team 
4. Closer to the 90s, Grandfather became more like his European brother and began to use different transport 
5. Moroz even acquired some things that he could do without in the earlier Soviet era, and stopped forgetting about technological progress 
6. Something also happened to his assistants, and he himself even became younger from this situation) 
7. Sometimes Grandfather was depicted in company 
8. Another group of New Year's cards did not let us forget about the Kremlin 
9. Moreover, the red star always turned out to be drawn more clearly than all other details 
10. But snow-covered houses and bells were rarely seen. Perhaps they could remind workers of pre-revolutionary Christmas cards with angels and churches, which was unacceptable then 
11. Various mythological characters were also rare. Gnomes are much closer to Christmas cards from Europe 
12. But we had kids with sleds. There were no computers yet, you had to freeze on the slide) Or alone 
13. Or en masse. Depicting pre-revolutionary traditional leisure was no longer considered a crime in the 80s 
14. Few people wore folk costumes in the 80s, and postcards did not let you forget what they looked like. This is great 
15. By the beginning of the 90s, cards like this began to appear. In my opinion, this was the first step towards the primitiveness of drawings on postcards, which still comes across today 
16. But these look good 
17. Even cooler are postcards with toys from the 50s - 60s. These jewelry are simply gorgeous. Soon I will decorate the Christmas tree with them 
18. As a bonus - a couple of postcards from socialist Bulgaria 
19. They were not exotic; many corresponded with countries of the socialist camp 
I’m deliberately publishing this post a little earlier than the pre-holiday bustle begins. Maybe some of you will want to congratulate your friends in this way. I have nothing against various more modern congratulations, but you must agree that it will be nice to hold in your hands a postcard with warm congratulations from dear people. And after 10-20 years there will be something to remember. Emails and text messages definitely won’t last that long. In general, given the speed of our mail, there is still a chance that your postcard will arrive before the New Year.
Do you still have similar ones too? Show it in the comments.
And by the way, where can you buy good postcards now? Not pop, but made with taste and love. Most of what is sold in kiosks, I will never send to people dear to me.
Old New Year cards, so cheerful and kind, with a retro touch, have become very fashionable these days.
Nowadays you won’t surprise anyone with a shiny anime, but old New Year’s cards immediately evoke nostalgia and touch us to the core.
Do you want to evoke memories of a happy childhood in a loved one born in the Soviet Union?
Send him a Soviet New Year's card, including your most cherished wishes.
Scanned and retouched versions of such postcards can be sent over the Internet via any messenger or email in unlimited quantities.
Here you can download Soviet New Year cards for free.
And you can sign them by adding yourself
Enjoy watching!
A little history...
There is some controversy regarding the appearance of the first Soviet greeting cards.
Some sources claim that they were first published for the New Year, 1942. According to another version, in December 1944, from the countries of Europe liberated from fascism, soldiers began sending their relatives unprecedented colorful foreign New Year cards, and the party leadership decided that it was necessary to establish the production of their own, “ideologically consistent” products.
Be that as it may, the mass production of New Year's cards began only in the 50s.
The first Soviet New Year's cards depicted happy mothers with children and the Kremlin towers, later they were joined by Father Frost and the Snow Maiden.
And after some time, the industry produced a wide range of postcards, pleasantly pleasing to the eye in the windows of newsstands filled with traditionally discreet printed products.
And even though the quality of printing and the brightness of the colors of Soviet postcards were inferior to imported ones, these shortcomings were made up for by the originality of the subjects and the high professionalism of the artists.
The real heyday of the Soviet New Year's card came in the 60s. The number of subjects has increased: motives such as space exploration and the struggle for peace appear.
Winter landscapes were crowned with wishes: “May the New Year bring good luck in sports!”
Postcards from past years reflected the trends of the times, achievements, changing direction from year to year.
One thing remained unchanged: the warm and sincere atmosphere created by these wonderful postcards.
New Year's cards from Soviet times continue to warm people's hearts to this day, reminiscent of old times and the festive, magical smell of New Year's tangerines.
Old New Year cards are more than just a part of history. These postcards delighted Soviet people for many years, in the happiest moments of their lives.
Christmas trees, pine cones, happy smiles of forest characters and the snow-white beard of Father Frost - all these are integral attributes of Soviet New Year's greeting cards.
They were bought in advance in pieces of 30 and sent by mail to different cities. Our mothers and grandmothers knew the authors of the pictures and hunted for postcards with illustrations by V. Zarubin or V. Chetverikov and kept them in shoe boxes for years.
They gave a feeling of the approaching magical New Year holiday. Today, old postcards are festive examples of Soviet design and simply pleasant memories from childhood.
Original postcards with Santa Claus from the Soviet period
A little background
In 1918, the Soviet government decisively abandoned greeting cards, declaring them “a relic of the bourgeois past.” Not only Christmas, but also New Year has ceased to be considered a holiday. Of course, the latter continued to be celebrated - quietly and at home, without decorated Christmas trees, chimes or illustrated cards. 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 came to its senses when Soviet soldiers began sending colorful European-style greeting cards to their families. A decree was issued to launch the production of “ideologically consistent” postcards.
For example, Santa Claus during the war was generous with gifts, and also... harsh and merciless towards his enemies.
This is how an unknown artist depicted the New Year of 1943.
Soviet New Year cards of the post-war decade
Already in the 1950s, mass production of Soviet New Year cards was established. The first to see the world were postcard photographs, supplemented with appropriate inscriptions. The range of characters was then limited to beautiful Komsomol athletes...
...cheerful, chubby-cheeked toddlers...
... and ordinary Soviet workers against the backdrop of the Kremlin.
In the 1960s, the production of Soviet postcards rose to the level of an art form, in which an unexpected variety of pictorial styles and methods reigned. Tired of drawing monotonous propaganda posters, the artists, as they say, had a blast.
It started with the return of the classic duet Father Frost + Snow Maiden.
Soon a fashion for cheerful animals appeared. The most recognizable were the numerous scenes with the participation of long-eared and tailed animals, drawn by Vladimir Ivanovich Zarubin.
Stories from Russian folk tales were also used for postcards.
Not without the influence of current slogans of the 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 bunny on skis as a postman.
Chetverikov portrayed the New Year's hockey match with referee Moroz.
New Year in Space
But the main theme was still the discovery of the world of stars and distant planets. Space often became the dominant plot of the image.
By introducing elements of fantasy into their works, illustrators expressed their wildest dreams of a bright future and the conquest of the Universe.
And after some time, the industry produced a wide range of postcards, pleasantly pleasing to the eye in the windows of newsstands filled with traditionally discreet printed products.
And even though the quality of printing and the brightness of the colors of Soviet postcards were inferior to imported ones, these shortcomings were made up for by the originality of the subjects and the high professionalism of the artists.
The real heyday of the Soviet New Year's card came in the 60s. The number of subjects has increased: motives such as space exploration and the struggle for peace appear. Winter landscapes were crowned with wishes: “May the New Year bring success in sports!”
There was a variegated variety of styles and methods in the creation of postcards. Although, of course, it could not do without interweaving the content of newspaper editorials into the New Year's theme.
As the famous collector Evgeniy Ivanov jokingly notes, on the postcards “the Soviet Father Frost actively participates in the social and industrial life of the Soviet people: he is a railway worker on the BAM, flies into space, melts metal, works on a computer, delivers mail, etc.
His hands are constantly busy with work - perhaps that’s why Santa Claus carries a bag of gifts much less often...” By the way, E. Ivanov’s book “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 hidden in an ordinary postcard than it might seem at first glance...
1966
1968
1970
1971
1972
1973
1977
1979
1980
1981
1984