VISUAL AND VERBAL IN NEW YEAR’S GIFT E-MAILS

The article is devoted to the analysis of electronic New Year’s cards as a modern sociocultural practice reflecting current values and transformations of festive culture. The study examines them as a polycode text based on 250 cards collected from social networks, messengers, and specialized websites in 2024-2025. The focus of the study is on the visual and verbal components. An analysis of the visual series shows the dominance of attributes devoid of deep historical symbolism (New Year’s ball, gift, snowman) over traditional images (Christmas tree, Father Frost), which indicates a change in the mythological perception of the holiday. The presence of the country’s president becomes a unique phenomenon. The verbal component is mainly represented by general well-wishes (fulfillment of desires, happiness, health, and joy), while material values are mentioned much less frequently. Electronic New Year’s cards, unlike the memes of this thematic group, retain a predominantly positive and traditionally congratulatory character. Overall, the study demonstrates how the digital form of the card captures current social sentiments and adapts the calendar tradition to modern communication realities.