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The Danish Christmas Seal |
The first Danish Christmas seal was published in 1904 inspired by postal clerk Einar Holbøll. The Danish Christmas seal was also the first in the world.
Already in 1904 the Christmas seal was a huge success – 6 million seals were sold and earnings reached 74.000 Danish kroner.
The Christmas seal is a charity seal and right from the beginning the proceeds have benefited children. The collections first goal was a TB sanatorium for children. The sanatorium, of high standard for it’s time, was opened in 1912.
Today there are 4 Christmas Seal institutions in Denmark. They are situated in Kollund, Hobro, Skælskør and Ølsted.
Apart from collecting funds for running the Christmas seal institutions, the Christmas seal foundation also supports other projects benefiting children. In 2004 the Christmas seal foundation celebrated its 100th anniversary.
In 2001 today’s growing use of email instead of letters meant that the Christmas seal foundation launched a Christmas E-seal for use in private and company email sent during December.
Like the traditional seal the E-seal is launched at the end of November and is meant to ensure that children will benefit from Christmas seal collections in the future as well.
Christmas seal No. 100 came in 2003 and was designed by Her Majesty Queen Marguerite.
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1808: The first Christmas tree was lit on the manor Holsteinborg by Næstved. The inspiration for the tree as well as the ornaments came from Germany.
In the beginning the Christmas tree was reserved for the bourgeoisie in the capital and larger cities.
Not until the 20th century did Christmas trees become common in Denmark. Typical ornaments: paper cones, baubles, Jacob’s ladders, hearts, birds and flags.
1810-1880's: The goblin is slowly associated with Christmas and is no longer viewed as a pagan farmer.
1863: Johan Krohn pens ”Peter’s Christmas” and the popular poem is published in 1866.
1882: The first Danish Christmas card is published, illustrated by Carsten Ravn.
1880-90's: Industrially produced Christmas cards makes for wider use and lower prices.
After 1900: Santa Claus becomes popular due to American and British influences.
1904: The first Danish Christmas seal emerges, inspired by Einar Holbøll.
App. 1915: The first advent wreath appears with a star and candles as per German example.
1930's: The first Christmas calendar turned up. Christmas decoration of city streets and shop windows in the capital became the norm.
1942: The candle factory ASP Holmblad produced the first advent candle. The Christmas decoration is a Danish tradition and emerged as a substitution for Christmas trees in poor families.
1940's: The custom with Lucia processions was begun in Denmark during the World War II. The custom was started in North Germany, spread to Sweden and from there to Denmark.
1960-70's: Advent calendars (with gifts).
1962: Danish State Radio broadcast the first Christmas calendar on radio and TV: ”Stories from all over the world”.
2001: The Danish Christmas seal goes electronic. |
The first Christmas card was written in England in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. The custom spread to a small group of the English bourgeoisie and in the beginning was seen as a status symbol – the more Christmas cards you received, the better.
In the beginning of the 1870’s the idea came to Europe where the cards were mass produced. The mass production ensured cheap Christmas cards and the tradition spread to all layers of society.
Christmas cards also arrived in Denmark. They were imported from Germany and were characterised by German Christmas traditions. The motifs in these cards were often religious or bore the mark of their Central European roots.
In 1882 the first Danish Christmas card was printed. The card was illustrated by Carsten Ravn. The motifs on the Danish Christmas cards differed from the imported cards in a distinct national style expressed through humour, satire and simplicity.
In Denmark the most popular cards were the humorous cards with goblins, pigs, happy children and snow-covered churches. These motifs were popular as opposed to the ones with Christian motifs. If the motifs had to be Christian, angels were among the preferred images.
From around the middle of the 19th century close-ups of ornaments or Christmas decorations became common as well.
The Christmas card’s golden age was the period from the end of the 19th century to around the 1930’s.
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