Post Early for Christmas

Article by Pascal Roque Lopes
Historian Coin Researcher
Vasai – Mumbai – India

The exchange of greetings amongst friends has been recorded since ancient times. Different countries have their own unique ways to express affection. Greeting and celebration on New Year is a common custom across all cultures and most also celebrate Christmas as a very big festival season. As Christmas and New Year fall into the same week there has always been a flood of greetings and messages that pass around.

While you can just walk to people in your vicinity and wish them all the best in person. But when people are farther away from you the only option back in the day was postal mail and the trend has not changed in spite the advent of technologies like email, Facebook and WhatsApp. To this day greetings and Christmas messages are sent across along with sweets and gifts. The festive season floods the post office with lots of parcels to be delivered and hence it is always advisable to post early for Christmas in order for the mail to arrive on time. Also post offices in many countries generally release seasonal stamps.

India Post issued stamps in December 2016 to celebrate Christmas and use on Christmas mail, with some beautifully cheerful designs which depict Santa Claus which is inseparable from the season and festival of Christmas. The image of Santa Claus as ageless, timeless, white bearded and red suited man who gives out gifts on Christmas.

The Other stamp for the Christmas mail was released by Indian post in December 2008, the stamp says Merry Christmas. It has Star and Sheep along with stylized Mary and baby Jesus. The entire aim of these stamps is to categories the Christmas mail and to get them delivered fast. But if you don’t post early for Christmas your greetings and gifts may not reach on time due to sheer volume of the mail to be delivered on Christmas.

In earlier days when there was no defined speed post service, stamps had specific graphite mark that helped sort Christmas mails electronically and hence making their delivery of sorted Christmas mail on priority. To generate awareness amongst people the British Royal post used a stamp cancellation written ‘Post early for Christmas‘ this was the postal publicity campaign to encourage people to avoid the last minute rush and load on the postal department.

One interesting point to note is in British and Portuguese time and even in certain remote place in the interior to make the delivery faster with no availability of technology and vehicle. The concept of Runner Postman was introduced.  Charges were based on distance travelled and the weight of the letters carried. Postal authorities point out that with the advent and expansion of roads and railways, runners started becoming redundant. That’s why they only exist today in the remotest regions of the country. They had to face all sorts of risks, hazards and hardships in carrying mails through jungles, terrains and deserts. In the process, they encountered wild animals, bandits and risked their lives. By evening they had to light a lantern for better visibility and to scare wild animals away but the journey to deliver messages did not stop. There were cases when the runners on duty were carried away by tigers, drowned in flooded rivers, bitten by venomous snakes, buried in avalanche or murdered by robbers. Wielding a spear and lantern in one hand and a sack containing all the messages good and bad in the other to be delivered far and wide, when there was no internet, or even roads.

To ensure your Christmas greeting and gifts reach their destination on time in this day and age of Technology ensure you Post Early for Christmas.