2019New Year - Stamp A - New Year Symbols - SB - Stamp Booklet

New Year’s celebrations, combined with the Feast of Saint Sylvester, are a relatively young culturalphenomenon in the form we know them today and didnot begin to be widespread until the twentieth century.Just as for other festivities, a specific symbolism has developed for New Year. Originally spread viapostcards and greeting cards, today it is largely transmitted via online communication, although it isstill present on postage stamps. It is not only symbols that mark the New Year: other distinctive signs and phenomena are also present. In the rst place, snow – even in those parts of the world where people see inthe New Year on a sunny beach. Another New Yearphenomenon, already almost a symbol in itself, is the practice of decorating an evergreen conifer (spruce,pine or r), which in Slovenia began to be known as the“New Year’s Fir” after the Second World War. Just likethe Christmas tree, the New Year’s Fir can be decorated in a wide variety of ways, although today examples thatre ect individual creativity are becoming increasinglyrare. And New Year has also become an opportunityfor the giving of gifts, although sadly today these are more likely to be material presents than gifts of thespiritual kind!