COVER N. 390 - FRANCE 

Postmark: Meilleurs voeux 2024 - La Poste - 1er janvier 2024 - Paris

Posted on the 1st January; received on the 15th January 2024 

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Just as the first month of the year reaches its midway mark, a super kind and friendly special cover with  best wishes for the year greeted me today, when I opened up my letterbox.

Un très grand Merci, Roland, pour ce très sympa pli. Que  les vœux là-dedans puissent aussi se refléter sur l'auteur d'un tel geste, si généreux et amiable.

2024 marks the 175th anniversary of the issuance of the first French stamps, a seven stamp set issued in January 1849, illustrated with the effigy of Cérès,  the goddess of fertility and agriculture, which, as a side note, was also  used to illustrate several Portuguese definitive stamps issues during the first decades of the 20th century.

This fact was the theme chosen by La Poste to be highlighted in the special Best Wishes for the year card which was inside the beautiful cover, embellished with a cachet replicating the message on the card.

Cérès and the latest iteration of Marianne share the stage on the card, looking in opposite directions.

Although back to back, the message they both convey is one of concordia and trust in the future, I'm sure. Ceres is gazing at the past, not as a hostage of nostalgia but as the guardian of a rich and significant past while Marianne is the face of hope herself, the harbinger of days that will be as good as we, as a whole, Mankind, Humanity, will make them.

May Cérès give us fertile days, full of what Marianne will always stand for: Liberty, Equality; Fraternity!