POSTCARD N.156 - INDONESIA

Postcard sent on the 22th July; received in (?) August 2024

Postcard image: dancers in Sulawesi Island
__________________________________________________________________________________

Another member of the "Thank You Mr. Postman Frequent Contributor Programme" is my friend up north. This time the Flying Dutchman chose to pamper me with a great vintage postcard form Indonesia, from the Island of  Sulawesi, one of the Greater Sunda Islands, a place which I read is also famous for being a great location for diving and reef observing.

I also read that the first Europeans to set foot on Sulawesi, were the Portuguese in 1523. They (or better, we  :-)) would maintain a presence in Celebes, as it was known by them  until 1665, until the Dutch took possession of the Island....

Who would have thought by then that one day, a Dutch would send a Portuguese a postcard with an image of the some beautiful dancers on that same island, now part of another sovereign state....?

Six 1500 stamps were used to mail the Postcard to Portugal. 

- Each year, Ari Guru - National Teacher's Day - is celebrated throughout Indonesia on the 25th November.

On 25NOV2004, Pos Indonesia issued a se-tenant pair of 1500 Rupiah stamps dedicated to this celebration, both stamps being illustrated with iconic images of teachers with their students.

- The Presidential election of 2004 took Place on the 5th July and the 20th September, electing general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for a first term which ended in 2009 (he would be re-elected for a second term after that, which ran until 2014).

As part of an awareness campaign for the elections, Pos Indonesia, on 05APR2004,  issued the se-tenant two stamp set used on the postcard, featuring a man and a woman calling on the attention of people to participate in the election, on one stamp,  and actually voting themselves, on the other. The legend Milih Langsung, present on both stamps., translates into "Direct Vote",  according to Deepl.

- A 4 x 1500 Rupiah stamp set plus 1 x 5000 Rupiah stamp souvenir sheet dedicated to Tourism was issued by Pos Indonesia on 27SEP2003.

Two of the stamps can be seen on the postcard:

The top one is dedicated to the Muang Jong ritual performed by members of the Sawang or Sekak Tribes during which miniatures of boats are offered to the ocean as a means to ask for protection and safety for anyone living off the sea.

The one on the bottom is dedicated to the Seba Baduy, an occasion when a community that actually lives all year long in seclusion,  closed to outsiders, in the Banten province, west of Jakarta, comes out of  seclusion to  do a 115 km pilgrimage until the city of Serang.

The Postmark indicates that the postcard was posted at Bogor Selatan (South Bogor) in the west of the Island of java.

POSTCARD N.155 - SRI LANKA

Postcard sent on the 24th July; received in (?) August 2024

Postcard image: Kirigalpoththa Mountain
__________________________________________________________________________________

Another of Ravindra's great sendings. This time a postcard issued by the Philatelic Bureau of Sri Lanka Post with an image of the second highest mountain in the country as can be read in the legend that accopmanies the photograph in the card. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, Ravindra!

Ravindra used one 50 Rupee stamp of the 10 x 50 Rupee minisheet, dating of 02FEB0224, themed on Sri Lankan waterfalls, of which 2 stamps were already mentioned a propos cover #439.

The waterfall highlighted on this stamp is Lanka Ella Waterfall, a 32 m high fall, located in the Kalupahana area in the Badulla District of the Uva Province. It can only be accessed by foot, what contributes to its still very pristine condition. 

The two 15 Rupee stamps with precious stones, an aquamarine, the blue gem form of Beryl  and two zircon gems, an yellow and a green, zircon colours ranging from colourless to golden yellow, brown, red, blue or green, are part of a 10 x 15 rupee mini-sheet, dedicated to gems of Sri Lanka, issued on 06NOV2021.

As usual, the postmark on the stamps was applied at Sri Lanka Post Headquarters, in Colombo.

COVER N. 496 - SRI LANKA

Postmark: Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 15.08.2024

Posted on the 15th August; Received in (?) August 2024

_________________________________________________________________________________

Amongst the mail I had waiting for me in my letterbox upon arrival from my days out of "office" were two (soon to be three) sendings from Ravindra. He's got a Thank you Mr. Postman Frequent Contributor Card full of "miles". Bohomȧ  sthoothi, again, Ravi!

Here's the first:

Yearly, Sri Lanka Post issues a commemorative stamp set on the occasion of  Vesak, the most important Buddhist holiday, celebrating the birth, enlightenment (Nibbāna), and passing (Parinirvāna) of  Buddha, which in Sri Lanka is a very important celebration, given that 70% of the population profess this creed. 

The souvenir-sheet for this year's set, issued on 21MAY2024, comprised three 50 Rupee stamps, against a background of  lotus (?) flowers.

I would greatly appreciate help from Ravindra to confirm or infirm what I'm saying (You there Ravi?), but I  believe that each stamp features reproductions of paintings from Buddhist temples. Left to right we have:

- Ambilla Raja Maha Viharaya Procession, from the Kalalpitiya Purana Viahraya temple paintings;

- Makulathenna Raja Maha Viharaya Procession, from the Makulethenna Raja Maha Viharaya temple paintings;

- Kalapittya Purana Viharaya Procession, from the Ambilla Raja Maha Viharaya temple paintings.

I would also  speculate that all this paintings are related to the proceedings of the Vesak celebrations, but, this is pure guesswork from me.

As usual, the postmark hails from the city of Colombo. Sri Lanka's largest city. 

COVER N. 495 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmark: Joachim Barrande . 225. Výroči Narození Jince 08.08.2024

Posted on the 8th July; Received in (?) August 2024

 ________________________________________________________________________________

Joachim Barrande.... Once again stamps and postmarks make me learn something, and that can only be good. Děkuju mockrát, Ivan, for a  very fine cover.

Joachim Barrande (1799 - 1883) was a French engineer who ended up becoming a well respected palaeontologist, and this because he, at one point in his long life, became the tutor of the grandson of France's sovereign, Charles X.

When Charles X abdicated in 1830, Joachim in his capacity of tutor of Henri d'Artois, accompanied the former king in exile, first in England then in Scotland and finally in Prague.

There, working as an engineer, he developed an interest for fossils of the Palaeozoic, found in the rocks of Bohemia, during the  construction works for a railroad.

Over the years he would amass an immense collection of fossils and during his life time he would publish 21 volumes of text and plates of his fundamental work "Système silurien du centre de la Bohême", dedicated to trilobites of several species.

Barrande, a critic of Darwin's evolutionism theory, died in Austria, but conform to his testament, his extensive collection of fossils was donated to Prague, where they are now kept at the National Museum.

Celebrating the 225th anniversary of his birth, Czech Post issued the commemorative postmark illustrated with his effigy, which can be seen on the cover.

The 20 Koruna stamp featuring a family of Orix (Orix gazella gazella)  and another of Lions (Panthera leo leo) is part of a mini-sheet issued on 07SEP2006, dedicated to "Zoos of the Czech Republic"   containing four stamps (16,20,24 and 27 Koruna) and two vignettes, all lavishly illustrated with great images of animals, as is also the frame of the sheet, whose section on the cover includes a Black-tip reef shark (Charcaminus melanopterus), a King vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) and a Ring-tailed lemur (lemur catta).

Over the years Czech Post has issued several of these very beautiful mini-sheets dedicated to fauna and flora and they are all a pleasure to behold.

In 2020 and 2021, Czech Post issued two definitive sets of two stamps each featuring butterflies. The 2021 set (23 and 1 Koruna) was used on the cover,  the stamps being illustrated  with an image of an Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines), a member of the Pieridae family which can be found all over Europe (1 Kč), an of a  Peacock  butterfly (Aglais io), also a common European sight, for the 23 Kč stamp.

COVER N. 494 - FRANCE

Postmark: Musée de La Poste Paris 08.07.2024

Posted on the 8th July; Received in (?) August 2024

 ________________________________________________________________________________

On the 24th November, this year, Lucy will be 50 years old... plus some 3.2 million years, for that is the estimate age of the fossilised hominine skeleton (or,  rather, 40% of it) that Prof. Donald Johanson and his student Tom Gray discovered at Hadar, in Ethiopia.

This finding filled an important gap in the materialisation of evidence of the transition to bipedalism which led to the emergence of Man, as we now know it.

The discovery of such a large quantity of remnants from a single hominine - an Australopitecus afarensis, to be more precise -  skeleton that old was such an extraordinary occasion that the team involved in the unearthing of it had an all night long party on the night of the first day of excavation.

All through the long and lively night, the famed Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamons" was played several times, what lead to someone having the  idea of naming the skeleton after the hero of the song. (This of course goes to prove that Palaeontologists are people of good taste....)

At the time of the finding, Lucy was the oldest hominine fossil ever found, but since then others have been discovered, with particular relevance to the case of Lucy's cousin Ardi, who at 4.4 million years old is the holdera of the record for the oldest hominine skeleton in existence.

Lucy was taken to the United States to be "recomposed" as best as possible and she is now kept at the National Museum of Ethiopia, at Addis Ababa.

Un grand merci Roland, for this very fine cover, obliterated with a postmark from the Musée de la Poste, in Paris.

The 50 years of the discovery of Lucy are the subject of the 1,96 € stamp, issued on 24JUN2024, illustrated with a rendition of what Lucy would supposedly look like.

The stamp is cancelled with a postmark from the Musée de la Poste, in Paris, an institution whose origins can be traced back to the Musée Postale de France, founded in 1946, thanks to the perseverance of Eugène Vaillé, a librarian with the French Postal Administration of the time.

COVER N. 493 - HUNGARY

Postmark: Balatonalmádi N 30.07.2024

Posted on the 30th July; Received in (?) August 2024

 ________________________________________________________________________________

Great athletic feats are usually remembered for quite a long time, or at least untill another super athlete supersedes the previous record in whatever discipline they are competing. Those who achieve them will forever be remebered and many times honoured in several different ways, their image on a stamp being one of them.

But athletic feats are not exclusive to Man, for even if usually animals are coached into performing according to the rules Man sets for them to compete against their peers, sometimes the star is the animal itself, not the man or woman behind it. And I can't remember a more clear example of this than  horseracing. 

Famous Horses have their legions of fans and many a winner on the racetrack have had its figure crystallised forever in a honouring statue.

Being a total stranger to the world of horseracing I can speculate that the fact that races are intrinsically linked to betting has a lot to do with this. In fact, it is probably the income generating potential of a horse that gives it fame more than its athletic ability to perform, for I don't think that the bleachers on the tracks would have had that many spectators if money was not involved. But, as I said, I know nothing of it, so this is pure speculation.

What I do know is that the best are usually and rightfully honoured by their countries. and  just as great human athletes deserve recognition so do our non human counterparts.

Thank you Hóka, for this great cover honouring what I read is a legend racehorse - Kincsem (My Precious), a Hungarian thoroughbred which, in the course of its short life, between 1874 and 1887, ascended to  still unparalleled fame, by winning all the 54 races in which she participated.

It seems that Kincsem ancestry, like that of all thoroughbreds, can be traced back to England, where the breed was created by crossing native mares with Arabian, Barb and Turkoman stallions.  Kincsem itself was sired by another famous horse who was originally owned by Queen Victoria's - Cambuscan - before being sold to Magyar owners. 

I find the 845 forint, issued on 03MAY2024, illustrated with a painting of  Kincsem and its rider, overlooking the track in the company of a cat, which also seems to be captivated by the horse's elegance, very beautiful. There is a certain element of classicism in this painting which takes me to an imaginary gallery with other paintings of famous racehorses that I find most appealing. In the background of the upper third of the painting, the names of famous racetracks where the thoroughbred won, highlight her racing pedigree, all done in class and good taste. 

The cover uses the official first day envelope, which bears an image of Kincsem and her Jockey leading a race to one of her multiple wins, I presume.

Also on the front of the cover is a stamp issued on 06MAY1999 as part of a set dedicated to fauna of Asia. The 79 forint stamp showcases a Bornean  orangutang (Pongo Pygmaeus) a species endemic to Borneo, that in spite of being one of the closest relatives of Man, is critically endangered, due to loss of habitat generated by deforestation brought about by the installation of palm oil plantations.

Postage on the cover was completed with two definitive stamps from a series issued on two occasions in 2000, dedicated to "Antique furniture", chairs in particular.

The 2 forint stamp is part of the first issue, dated of 30JUN2000, while the 4 forint stamp began to circulate on  09OCT2000.

The Postmark hails from Balatonalmádi, a resort town on the northern shore of lake Balaton, with a population of  8,500.

POSTCARD N.154 - GERMANY

Postcard sent on the 19th July; received on the 29th July 2024

Postcard image: Nationaler Love and be happy Day - Cologne Pride 2024
__________________________________________________________________________________

Pride. The self-affirmation of one's nature. Take me as I am, just as I take you as you are, nothing could be simpler!

It all boils down to human and civil rights. And we all know that human rights, something that should be considered an axiom, part of our heritage from the moment we are born, a commandment, are many times only attained and acknowledged through hard fought battles, with their heroes, villains, symbols, pains, sufferance, successes, failures, for this is how humanity progresses, slowly unfolding its petals, like a flower.

Some of us, the lucky ones, have come a long way in the right direction in the last few decades. Particularly those who benefit from that "worst form of government, except for all the others", as Churchill once put it. Not so in places plagued by dictatorial regimes, who all tend to format people according to a self-constructed moral and  costumes code that be(ne)fits the ruler and his/her entourage, most times hiding beneath a blanket of "do as I say, not as I do".

Recognising that our differences are part of our signature as a species has not been an easy task, but step by step we're getting there, although, as good subjects of physics that we are, our actions will always entail reaction, and even if society as a whole is getting more and more open and respectful of  variance, the numbers of those who would rather spend their free time indulging in such strange hobbies as burning books or hating people for race, colour, national origin, sex, religion or age reasons is also gaining a regretful momentum.

Anyway, all this about a card I received from The Phantom, just before my holidays, sent directly from Cologne's Pride 2024, whose street festival took place from the 19th till the 21st July. Danke sehr, Alex!

"Today is the National Love and be happy day. 

(Nothing official, I just invented it, let them know...)"

Pride events have grown to become truly inclusive festivals in lots of cities around the world. Far from the few participants in the first gay rights demonstrations of the seventies we now have festivals that number hundreds of thousand, if not millions of attendees (Cologne Pride 2023 had  1.2 million people participating).

And large companies never sleep, when there are large numbers of people involved. DHL partnered with Deutsche Post for the 2004 event and on its first day, 19JUL2024, a set of three stamps (all equal, with three different denominations (0.70; 0.85 and 0.95 €) was issued, the stamps being illustrated with the New Progress Pride Flag.

I confess I was confused by the flag, because I was used to the rainbow flag, so I had to look it up and here's the explanation I found on Volvo's website (I told you, large companies never sleep....)

"New Progress Pride Flag

Given the evolving nature of the LGBTQ+ community and society at large, the Progress Pride Flag integrates many of these flags into one. Thankfully, it has been redesigned to place a greater emphasis on “inclusion and progression.” Our community is such a huge umbrella of different kind of people and that is what makes us so special, that is what makes us so unique and that is what makes us so powerful.

The modern pride flag now includes stripes to represent the experiences of people of color, as well as stripes to represent people who identify as transgender, gender nonconforming (GNC) and/or undefined.

Daniel Quasar’s flag includes the colors of the trans flag, as well as black and brown stripes harkening back to 2017 Philadelphia Pride Flag, which sought to further represent the queer and trans identities of black and brown people. Those two stripes also represent those living with HIV/AIDS, people who have passed from the virus and the overall stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS that remains today.

In 2021, the Progress Pride Flag was revised by Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK to incorporate the intersex flag. In the new design, the chevron of the Progress Flag includes a yellow triangle with a purple circle in the middle."

Source: https://www.volvogroup.com/en/news-and-media/news/2021/jun/lgbtq-pride-flags-and-what-they-stand-for.html

The first day Postmark, applied in Cologne, is illustrated with the logos of Deutsche Post and DHL.