Halloween Postcard Keep Moving

The imagery on this postcard, featuring a jack-o'-lantern and a black cat, reflects the popularization of Halloween traditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The jack-o'-lantern, derived from Irish folklore involving carved root vegetables, evolved in North America to commonly use carved pumpkins by the mid-19th century. Black cats, long associated with superstition and witchcraft in European tradition, became a pervasive symbol of the holiday's eerie charm during this period.

Such festive yet slightly spooky illustrations were characteristic of the "Golden Age" of postcards, roughly from 1900 to 1920, when holiday greetings experienced immense popularity. Halloween postcards, in particular, helped solidify the visual lexicon of the holiday, contributing to a widespread cultural understanding of its iconic motifs and the shift towards a more commercialized and stylized celebration of All Hallow's Eve.