On one hand, I’ll quell your fears: Greeting card companies didn’t create Valentine’s Day—they simply cashed in on an established holiday. But about those purer origins you seek…can’t really help you there, boss. The history of the holiday is a murky, bloodsoaked lake.
The concept of a passion-oriented tradition in mid-February dates back to ancient Rome with the Lupercalia festival. From Feb. 13–15, drunken (and potentially naked) Roman men would sacrifice goats and dogs, then take to the streets to whip women with strips of the sacrificial hides. This was supposed to increase their fertility. How romantic—err, at least Roman.
Meanwhile, Roman Emperor Claudius II executed two Christian men named Valentine on separate Feb. 14s in the third century. Legend has it that one of the men, before his beheading, wrote a note to a woman and signed it “from your Valentine.” There doesn’t appear to be much truth to that part of the story, but in the murky lake of legend, does it really matter?
In the late fifth century, Lupercalia was struck from the Roman calendar in an effort to eliminate pagan traditions. St. Valentine’s Day, however, was added to the calendar in 496 A.D. to honor the third-century martyrs. Perhaps in the absence of Lupercalia in mid-February, people began associating fertility, and eventually pure love, with Valentine’s Day. By the Middle Ages, Chaucer was romanticizing the holiday in his poems; Shakespeare followed suit a few hundred years later. Eventually, romantic Europeans were hand-making cards to give to their true loves on Feb. 14.
Then, yes, in the 19th and 20th centuries, greeting card companies made absolute boatloads of cash by making it incredibly easy for said romantics.
I'd bet that greeting card companies and chocolate manufacturers make out pretty well on V-Day.
though most greeting card companies will not buy the copyright to privately created cards, contact Gibson and see what their rules are
Hallmark cards are greeting cards for birthdays, Valentines Day, Mothers Day, etc.
Hallmark Greeting Company is the leading Merry Christmas Greeting card company. There are many greeting card companies on the market but none as widely known or as popular as Hallmark.
Some popular greeting card companies are 'The Card Factory' and 'Moo.' There are also online cards that are offered by Bluemountain. Paperchase offers cards in store and online.
Two of the more famous greeting card companies found in America are Hallmark Cards in Missouri and American Greetings in Ohio. Manta is a site where can view by state American companies making greeting cards.
Examples of companies that allow you to make and print your own greeting cards are Moonpig and Hallmark. Both companies offer a variaty of greeting card templates which can be used for free.
Greeting card printing should be available from your local printing shop. There are also companies available online, such as PS Print, Digital Print Plus and Cards Made Easy.
In the US, there's Hallmark, American Greetings and Gibson Greetings.
Traditional greeting card companies have responded by also moving into the world of e-greetings by offering, for a cost, higher quality e-cards than their free e-greetings competitors.
Many retailers give customers the option of turning a holiday photo into a greeting card. In addition to dedicated companies online, one can easily create a greeting card at a local photo center.
when did the first muscical greeting card come out?