Christmas is round the corner and so millions of
people all over the world are exchanging holiday cards, a tradition that dates
back to 1843. Here you have 5 curious facts about Christmas cards:
1. The first Christmas card was sent by Sir Henry Cole
in 1843. Visit Vite's Postcrossing blog to learn more about the origins of this
custom.
2. Christmas Cards are an industry in the U.K. and in
the U.S. According to the Greeting Card Association, Americans purchased some 2
billion individual and boxed Christmas cards in 2015! This latest Market Report
shows that the UK greeting card market continues to be a major British success
story with a value of over £1.6 billion at retail.
3. It is a tradition that now surpasses beliefs and
religion. Although many people associate holiday cards with Christmas and
Hanukkah, people around the world share holiday cards at the end of each year.
In many countries, cards refer to the New Year rather than Christmas. But even
in countries where Christians are a distinct minority, Christmas cards are sent
out to celebrate the “secular” Santa Claus Christmas.
4. The White House sends more that 1 million annual
holiday cards. The first official Christmas card was issued by President
Eisenhower in 1953.
5. Only 15% of the cards are sent by men, their
preferred greeting being Merry Christmas
Happy Christmas everyone and our very best wishes for
the New Year!
Postcard 12 features the Hejduk Towers at the City of Culture
in Mount Gaiás. American arhitect John Heijduk originally
designed the towers in 1992 to be botanic towers for Compostela Park however
after it was never realised, Eisenman who was an old friend and colleague of
Hejduk decided to recover the project.The towers are 82-foot tall and situated at
the edge of the new site, overlooking the city's old medieval centre. The two
towers bare a similar form but are constructed from different materials, one is
clad in granite while the other appears like a wire-frame showing metal and
glass.
Postcard 12 has been headed for Zhenghou, a city in
central China, 9579 km away!
Roberto, a basic 2 student, has written a postcard
featuring the Hejduk Memorial Towers at the Cidade da Cultura, designed by American
architect John Hejduk (1929-2000).
Would you like to know more about the Hejduk towers?
Click here. If you want to read what Roberto has discovered about Zhengzhou, go
to EXPLORING THE WORLD.
A new postcard has just arrived from Tainan, Taiwan,
11048 km away!!
Cherry has written and coloured a beautiful postcard
that shows a scene from one of our favourite books of all time, Lewis Carroll's
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1869).
As you can see, Cherry's postcard features The White
Rabbit, a character who appears at the very beginning of the book (in chapter
one) wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too
late!" It is him whom Alice follows down the rabbit hole into Wonderland!
Thank you Cherry for this lovely postcard! It was a
very good choice considering the fact that this year we celebrate the 150th
anniversary of the original publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Tainan is the oldest city in Taiwan and
also commonly known as the "CapitalCity"
(Chinese: 府城; pinyin: fǔchéng) for its over 200 years of
history as the capital of Taiwan under various
ruling dynasties. Its former name, Tayouan (大員), has been claimed to be the origin of the name "Taiwan".
The TaiwanConfuciusTemple was
built in 1665 to offer lectures and cultivate intellectuals. It was the first
learning institute for children whenTaiwan was
ruled by Qing Dynasty. The Confucian temple serves now as a popular
tourist attraction and hosts ancient Confucian ceremonies.
The National
Museum of Taiwan Literature exhibits local literary works as part of its
multilingual, multi-ethnic focus. The museum is located in the former TainanCity
Hall,
constructed in 1916 and famous for its historical significance.
The Bee Hives are the most important fireworks in Lantern Festival. They are actually
thousands of bottle rockets arranged row atop row in an iron-and-wooden
framework. The setup looks like a beehive full of unleashed gunpowder. Dazzling
explosives whiz and whirl across the sky and often into the spectators, both thrilling
and intimidating them.
LIFESTYLE
Tainan is
also one of Taiwan's
cultural capitals, for its rich folk cultures including the famous local
snack food, extensively preserved Taoist rites and other living local
traditions covering everything from child birth to funerals.
Essen has a population of approximately 567,000 people, which
makes it the 9th-largest city in Germany. It has a temperate-Oceanic climate
with relatively mild winters and cool summers.
ESSEN IS FAMOUS FOR….
Essen is one of Germany's most important coal and steel centers.
It is seat to several large companies, among them the ThyssenKrupp industrial
conglomerate, one of the world's largest steel producers providing components
and systems for the automotive industry, elevators, escalators, material
trading and industrial services.
Declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 2001, Zollverein
is the “most beautiful coal mine in the world". It is considered an
architectural and technical masterpiece and its winding tower has become a
symbol for the whole Ruhr area.
Built in 1873, Villa Hügel was Krupp’s representative seat. The
mansion has 269 rooms and occupies 8,100 m². It is situated in a 28-hectare
park that overlooks the River Ruhr. The villa Hügel is now property of Essen
culture.
Essen’s major museum is a major collection of 19th- and
20th-century art, including paintings, graphics, photography and antique
ceramics. Admission is free except for special exhibitions.
LIFESTYLE
Despite
the fact that Essen is one of the most industrial cities in Germany, it is one
of the greenest! It was awarded the European Green Capital Award for 2017.
Essen was singled out for its practices in protecting and enhancing
nature and biodiversity and efforts to reduce water consumption. It also
participates in a variety of networks and initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
WANNA
TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR OF ESSEN? Watch this video!
Lichfield is a cathedral
city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England.
One of eight civil parishes with city status in England,
Lichfield is situated roughly 16 mi (26 km)
north of Birmingham. At the time of the
2011 Census the population was estimated at 32,219 and the wider Lichfield
District at 100,700.
…its three-spired medieval cathedral and for being
the birthplace of Samuel Johnson,
the writer of the first authoritative Dictionary of the English Language.
Today, the city still retains its old importance as an
ecclesiastical centre, and its industrial and commercial development has been
limited. The centre of the city retains an unspoilt charm with over 230 listed
buildings in its historic streets, fine Georgian architecture and
old cultural traditions. People from Lichfield are known as Lichfeldians.
It is the only medieval cathedral in Europe with
three spires. The present building was started in 1195, and completed by the building
of the Lady Chapel in the 1330s. It replaced a Norman building
begun in 1085 which had replaced one, or possibly two, Saxon buildings from the
seventh century.
A distinctive Tudor building with a row of eight brick chimneys. This was built
outside the city walls (barrs) to provide accommodation for travellers arriving
after the city gates were closed. It now provides homes for elderly people and
has an adjacent Chapel.
In the centre of the city, the square contains two statues,
one of Samuel Johnson overlooking the house in which he was born, and one of
his great friend and biographer, James Boswell.
Beacon Park is
in Lichfield’s
city centre and hosts many cultural events. It was created in 1859 when the MuseumGardens were
laid out adjacent to the newly built FreeMuseum and
Library. The park has since been extended in stages and now forms 69
acres of open parkland in the
city centre. The park is located in the northwest of the city centre and to the
west of the Cathedral Close across the road from the Garden of Remembrance.
LIFESTYLE
Cultural life in Lichfield is
very important. The city hosts an international Arts Festival, The Lichfield
Festival, which has taken place every
July for 30 years. The festival is a celebration of classical music, dance,
drama, film, jazz, literature, poetry, visual arts and world music. Events take
place at many venues around the city but centre on Lichfield Cathedral and
the Garrick Theatre. Popular events include the medieval market in the
Cathedral Close and the fireworks display which closes the festival.
Watch this video to know more about this impressive city!
The postcard that a Lichfeldian, Malcolm, has
sent us does not feature Lichfield. It shows one of the most beautiful natural
areas in England, theLAKE DISTRICT.
The Lake District,
also known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a
mountainous region in North West England. A
popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests and mountains
(or fells) and its
associations with the early 19th century writings of Romantic poets like William
Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
