The first official postcard was made on the 1st of October, 1869 by the Austrian Post. Between 1870 and 1875 the novelty swept across Europe, and developed according to local distinctive features. European Jewish communities were characterized by this diversity and homogeneity at the same time, as the Jewish occasions for sending postcards were the same everywhere. The most important time of the year to write a postcard was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Along with eating the traditional beet dishes and round challah, sending postcards became a new family tradition related to New Year for the assimilated European Jewish communities. This is all more understandable, when considering that almost every family had relatives living in another city, country, or even on another continent.