The aim of the project
The project helped the students to become global citizens.They studied the culture,traditions, traditional Christmas dishes,the sights of the country,the proper names of the foreign countries,the teenagers' lifestyle,entertainment.The students compare the culture of their own and other foreign country,express their respect.The project helps them to develop their communicative,creative researching skills.It helps them to develop their English writing skills.While working on the project the students used information technologies.
The history of Christmas cards
ReplyDeleteSending Christmas cards is a very popular tradition in the USA as well as in many European countries.
In the middle of the 19th century Henry Cole was a well-known museum director and a very popular man in London. Every year he sent short notes to his friends at Christmas, wishing them a happy holiday season. But in 1843 Henry Cole had no time for letter writing so he asked an artist John Horsley to design a card with a printed message that would substitute his annual greeting. His request eventually started a billion-dollar industry and added a tradition to the holiday season. He invented the Christmas card with three pictures and one message which read Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You. Cole decided to sell his card in a shop, and thousands of copies were placed on sale. By 1960 the tradition of sending Christmas cards started.
Louis Prang, a German lithographer who settled in Boston, US, popularized the Christmas card in America. He started a business of beautifully made Christmas cards, which dominated the market for nearly 20 years. Today Americans send about four billion cards every Christmas. Ninety-five percent of families send from 60 to 70 cards at Christmas, for which they pay an average of 20 cents each. For years, landscapes have been the most popular design on Christmas cards, followed by holiday symbols such as bells, wreaths, candles, also religious themes and, finally, Santa Claus. Not all Christmas cards are professionally made. Some people sent out photographs of the baby, the new puppy or the retirement home under the palms. Last year one family sent a card showing the husband and wife with their progressively more expensive automobiles during their 20 years of marriage.
The growing paper shortage and rising postal rates affected the Christmas-card industry within the next few years. The cards changed into smaller ones and to simple postal cards without envelopes.
Occasionally, Christmas cards have messages that have double meanings. But they are very rare. Since the days when Henry Cole was too busy to write his annual greeting, the messages remain, with few exceptions, specific, traditional and hopeful. The most popular phrases in holiday cards are Merry Christmas and Peace on Earth.