COVER N.177 - PORTUGAL

Postmark:  First day Postmark: Solidários Com o Povo Ucraniano CTT LISBOA 2022.09.27 
Posted on the  27 September 2022.
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Yesterday was the day of the Armistice... of the War to end All wars... and yet, since that day the poppies have continued to grow in so many fields that it seems that Flanders is, just like the universe, expanding...  oh how I wish we could celebrate a different armistice, but while that doesn't happen it's good to see a yellow and blue flag being hoisted where it really belongs!

I don't usually post here FDCs that I now and them mail to myself, whenever CTT issues a series that tickles my fancy, but this one, for obvious reasons, is symbollicaly much more than just another stamp issue and what better day to post it than now that the yellow and blue flag is again flying at Kherson ...

Joining the circle of Postal Administrations that have so far issued stamps in support of Ukraine against the  unjustified and unjustifiable Russian aggression, CTT, Correios de Portugal the Portuguese Post has issued on 27SEP22 a single 0,95€ stamp illustrated by a yellow sun on a blue sky shinning on a yellow horizon over what could be a blue sea, in itself a metaphor for Portugal, or blue mountains, maybe the Carpathian... another metaphor for Ukraine. On the top centre of the stamp the legend "Solidários com o Povo Ucraniano - Солідарні з українським народом (In Solidarity with the Ukranian People)", clearly stating what the stamp stands for.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, issued a statement in support of the stamp issue which can be read on the presentation notice of the stamp, downloadable by hitting the link "Download da  pagela" under the issue thumbnail, on the page dedicated to  2022 stamp programme. 

 

As can be also read on the presentation notice "CTT will donate all net proceeds from these stamps to actions that contribute towards alleviating the plight of the Ukrainian people. These actions will be defined in detail in close collaboration with the Embassy of Ukraine in Portugal".

I find the commemorative postmark truly remarkable in that it transubstantiates a symbol of might and  resilience, virtues that, all facts notwithstanding, have a semiotic aura connoted to war and the military,   into a symbol of peace, hope and future, the virtues we all associate with bread, in its most essential form: an ear of wheat