Why this inspired us
People once counted a lifetime in autumns. We liked the idea of wishing someone not just many years, but years they actually enjoy.
Explore a verse
Rig Veda 7.66.16
The reference printed on your card, and the idea behind it.
In its original context
The seventh book of the Rig Veda is credited to the family of the poet Vasishtha. Hymn 7.66 is addressed to two gods who watch over truth, promises and the order of the world, and to the sun that crosses the sky as their witness.
In this verse the sun is pictured as a bright eye, set in the sky by the gods, rising in the east. Watching it rise, the poet asks for two things: that we may see a hundred autumns, and live a hundred autumns. Years were counted in autumns, the season after the rains when the harvest came in, so "a hundred autumns" meant a hundred good harvests: a long life, and a full one.
The wish became so widely used that other Vedic collections repeat it and lengthen it: may we hear for a hundred autumns, speak for a hundred autumns, never be helpless for a hundred autumns, and live even beyond a hundred. Our card's third line, about rejoicing, follows the spirit of those longer versions rather than the Rig Veda's two short lines.
Something to think about
What makes a long life feel full, rather than simply long?
Our cards carry original, contemporary words inspired by ancient passages. They are not translations.
The Letterbox
Little letters, occasionally.
New cards, first looks and the odd kind word. Never more than we'd want to receive ourselves.