Solidarnościowe kartki świąteczne z lat 1982-1989 [Holiday greeting cards by Solidarność (Solidarity...

The article is devoted to holiday greeting cards published by Solidarity in the years 1982-89. Among the many cards for different occasions distributed by the underground press. I concentrate here on those which had a religious theme, specifically Christmas and Easter cards. The analysis of this kind of communication goes beyond the properly linguistic frame: by its very nature a greeting card is a hybrid, its iconic layer being of considerably more importance, it seems, than its verbal layer. The Solidarity cards merit attention in particular in relation to their sources models, with respect to the symbolism employed, the images, as well as the texts in a broad sense of the term, that is, standardized formulas as well as quotations, word play, and longer statements, including narratives, as well as their interactions. The analysis is an attempt to display the linguistic and cultural specificities of these cards, whose characteristics cannot be considered apart from the historical, political circumstances of the time.