Seasoᴎs gᴙээtiᴎgs, comᴙades. Is next, Soviet holiday cards.
Technically, these were "New Year" cards, but the Russian Orthodox church survived the 1917-91 era and many of the common Christmas themes are here in these early Space Age cards--with a Soviet twist.
In this card, we see Santa, inexplicably in blue rather than Communist red. ᴙэmэmbэᴙ, iᴎ Soviet ᴙussia Saᴎta is like KGB: always watching you!If you pull up the big version of the tree you'll see that the ornaments are rockets and the very recognizable Sputnik 1. And instead of reindeer, in flies a Little Octobrist kid cosmonaut on a rocket, patriotically waving a flag. Nothing says peace on earth like heavy throw weight.
Santa's watch reads five minutes to midnight. Probably not a reference to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' Doomsday Clock.
Here the cosmonauts have extended their Christmas spirit to the surface of the moon, a bold prediction of victory in the big battle of the space race. Reality was not so kind, with their lunar launch vehicle blowing up on the pad right around the time Neil Armstrong took his one small step. But the tree sure looks pretty with its red star top, poised like a missile ready to launch on its CCCP tree stand, Remember, my capitalist friends, Christmas is the time to spread that wealth around a little.
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