POSTCARD N.49-  Belarus

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 26th October; received on the 22nd November
Postcard image: Tradiitonal Belarus Costumes (?)
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I love a surprise. Today, as usual, I went to check my letterbox. All I found inside were the usual supermarket promotion brochures, which I confess I seldom open at all. After dinner I picked up the two or three brochures and was going to thrown them on the recycling bin when out of one a postcard dropped to the floor. I couldn't believe my luck... Not that I could be blamed, but I was going to unknowingly throw away a postcard from someone who had gone through the care and trouble of writing it to me... As of today, I'll never throw a supermarket catalogue brochure into the bin without first making sure there's nothing inside 😀

And what would be more: not only would I be throwing away a pretty nice postcard, with a great stamp on it, but I would miss the opportunity of adding another country to my list: Belarus. Thank you so Much Maria, for your nice Postcard!

Belarus... quite cited on the news lately... just as my own country, decades ago, would also be cited on the news abroad.. the essence of people is the same everywhere though, no matter who leads, or rules, or reigns, or dictates,  a friendly gesture like writing a postcard to a complete stranger just goes to prove it!

I quite like the postcard Maria sent me. Not being able to read Belarusian, I would presume that it shows  local  traditional costumes . I tried to find a photo on the internet of a wooden church similar to that on the card to try to identify the region, but I wasn't lucky.

Being a Postcrosser herself, Maria went through the trouble of making sure she would post her card with the most appropriate stamp: the N tariff (surface international postcard) single issue set stamp celebrating Postcrossing, issued on 21JUL21.

 So far, it seems, 15 postal administrations have issued Postcrossing themed stamps, these being those of Russia, Austria, Belarus, The Channel Islands, The Czech Republic, Finland, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Ukraine, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Poland, Ireland, Äland and Brazil. Strangely enough, the place where it all started, my own country, hasn't yet obliged...

The two small 1(cucumber) and 5 (carrot) kapeyka self-adhesive imperforated stamps are part of a definitive "vegetable" 14 stamp set, issued on 01JUL2020.

The postmark was applied twice and it is not very clear, but it seems to read Minsk, (the Belarus Capital) what confers with where Maria sais she was writing from.