Festivals

 

1955: Publicity Issues

Alpine Herdsman and Costume Festival, Interlaken where of course there are Alpenhorn blowers aplenty.

1996: Publicity Issues

Enter a brass band at the 30th Federal Music Festival considered the largest wind music and brass band competition in the world. It is held every five years in various regions of Switzerland.

2013: Town Festivals (Designer - Linda Olafsdottir)

The Smelter Music Festival held in the remote village of Borgafjorour Estri in Iceland. The concerts are held an old fish reduction and herring factory which the locals convert into a concert hall once a year.

Entry to Sunday Stamps theme - Celebrations/Festivals - See It On A Postcard 

Island History

 

1981: Discovery of Madeira

Portuguese explorers were blown off course while sailing along the West African coast, after many days adrift they found a small island harbour which they named Porto Santo. Much later the sailors noticed a heavy dark bank of clouds to the south west of this small isle and sailed towards it in 1419 and found a densely forested island they named Madeira (meaning 'wood' in Portuguese).

1993: The Red Cross and Scout Movement

70 years of the Red Cross in 1992. The stamp shows the Greenland flag, a rising sun. Also 50 Years of the Scout Movement in 1993 with two scouts gazing out of their tent. Musk Ox also make an appearance on this sheet, perfectly clothed for the Greenlandic climate, they are known there as Umimmak - the long-bearded one.

1986: Bicentenary of Reykjavik

The first official seal of Reykjavik, introduced in 1815, featured a fisherman, a boat and a flatfish. It was replaced in 1957 by the current logo, a blue shield design

Sunday Stamp theme - Historical Events - See It On A Postcard 

Waterfalls

 

1956: Power Stations and Waterfalls (Artist - S Jonsson)

Skogafoss, a 60 metre waterfall on Iceland's south coast with easy access from a car park. 

1977: Europa - Landscapes

In contrast the remote "off-the-beaten-track"  Ofaeru waterfall (Ofaerufoss)  in Iceland's Southern Highlands, a two tier waterfall plunging 40 metres (130 ft). The natural stone bridge spanning the falls was washed away by melting glaciers in 1993.

2026: Waterfalls

High Force, County Durham. The River Tees plunges 21 metres over a vertical cliff. After heavy rain the peat laden river splits into two falls but the rock can be completely covered  by water in exceptional weather.. England's most powerful waterfall in terms of volume.

Hardraw Falls, North Yorkshire plummets over a limestone lip, eroding softer rock to create an overhang. Visitors to this natural amphitheater are warned not to walk behind the veil of water because of the precarious nature of the overhang. 

Sunday Stamps A-Z this week at the letter W - Waterfalls - See It On A Postcard 

Orchids

 

1968: Flowers IV

O is for Orchid

1982: Wild Orchids

L-R = Early Purple Orchid or as the Swede's call it, St Peter's Keys: Marsh helleborine; Elder-flowered orchids the two grow together in different colours, purple and white, so I rather like the Swedish name of Adam and Eve; lastly a Lady's Slipper. 

The price of this stamp sheet included 1.60kr in aid of stamp collecting.

1993: Orchids -  issued for the 14th World Orchid Conference in Glasgow

We now head into the esoteric growing of orchids by enthusiasts 18p Dendrobium hellwigianum from the mountains in east New Guinea the next 24p has so many Latin names I'll just say it is a clone and cross from Asia and Borneo 

 Cymbidium owianum (Low's Boat Orchid)  introduced from Burma

33 another cross from the Himalayas and Thailand; 39  a variety of Dendribium vexillarius originally from the cloud forests of New Guinea 

Sunday Stamps A-Z - O for Orchid  - See It On A Postcard

From the Sea

 

1991: For A Better Environment

The Mediterranean coastline and its wildlife

2006: Norwegian Marine Life IV

Meanwhile in the Atlantic - a sea urchin with a name that seems to use a good portion of the alphabet Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, Green Sea Urchin (found in northern waters around the world).

1980: Animals

Ocean perch

1981: Painting

'Hauling the Line' by Gunnlaugur Scheving who painted life in Iceland, many of whose works featured the sea, as can be seen here

A seal hauling out from the sea at low tide. Our local haul out has a seal cam so one can take an interest in the seal and pup numbers when it is the winter breeding season from the comfort of a couch.

Sunday Stamps theme - From the Sea - See It On A Postcard

 

Public Buildigs

 

1970: Football World Championships

The impressive Stockholm City Hall, the tall tower is the one nearest the water (Lake Malaren) and is topped by the three crowns, Sweden's national symbol.

1980: 50th Anniversary of the National Hospital

If unlucky enough to be in hospital this looks to be a very pleasant place to stay. I think the building has been preserved but today there is a new National Hospital that dwarfs this one in size and no doubt equipment.

1988: Centenary of Urania Science Museum

This stamp shows both the old and new buildings of the Urania Science Museum in Berlin.

2000: Opening of Singapore Post Centre - History of the Central Post Office

The only way to end is with some post offices. The official launch in 2000 of the new Singapore Post Centre gave them the opportunity to celebrate their buildings from the

first in the 1800s when Singapore welcomed its first mail steamer but as volumes of post increased a new building was required and the General Post Office was built in 1897.

The GPO moved to the new Fullerton Buildings in 1928, which was also when the first airmail flight was dispatched from Singapore.  The mail sorting operation was eventually moved in 1998 to a new facility and then the shiny new SingPost Centre opened in 2000

Sunday Stamp theme - Public Buildings - visit  See It On A Postcard

Agriculture

 

1941: Agricultural Development Plan

Surrounded by war  neutral Switzerland started their battle of self sufficiency with the Whalen Plan in 1940, its aim was to increase areas of cultivation in every available piece of land digging up sports fields and gardens. It is sometimes referred to as the 'Battle of the Fields'.  Before WW2 Switzerland imported 70% of its food from abroad, by the time it had ended the potato harvest had tripled, cereal doubled and vegetables quadrupled and with this bounty it managed to feed the entire Swiss population and 300,000 refuges. Switzerland was so successful that it became the only country in Europe that did not need to ration potatoes, vegetables and fruit.

1947: Allied Occupation Zones definitives

Once the war was over thoughts turned to reconstruction, the stamps of the sower and harvester were part of a set showing occupations that would work for that purpose and peace doves for hope. These stamps were used in the British, American and Russian occupation zones.

1965: 75th Anniversary Belgium Farmers Association

Another horse pulled plough, always a favourite motif for stamp designers

1950-54: Occupational Activities and Views

Iceland shows off its dramatic scenery with a tractor

2016: World Stamp Show 'NY16', Javits Center

Meanwhile a Guernsey cow is enjoying the sunshine, sometimes called the 'Golden Guernsey' due to its own and the milk's rich colour. The link with the New York exhibition cover is that Guernseys were first imported into the United States by two schooner captains in the 1830s and 1840s and would become the basis of the American Guernsey herd.

1993: Occupations - Cheesemaker

Happily where there is milk there is also cheese.

Sunday Stamps theme of - Agriculture - crops are growing at See It On A Postcard

Tree Time

2011: Europa - The Forest (Design - Alan Johnston)

 Time to take a walk in the woods

1990: Forests (Design - Malcom Waddell, foliage illustration Jan Waddell)

and look at the leaves

2007: 100th Anniversary of Reforestation (Design - O Petursson)

A birch branch and

Sorbus aucuparia

the leaves of the Rowan or Mountain ash, in folklore known as a tree of protection

1979: Forest Fruits and Nuts

Any time of year there is always something to entrance

40: Larch, and its pink 'larch rose' 50: Hazel with its tasty nuts 60: Chestnut, irresistible to pick up their nuts from the ground 90: Blackthorn, its spring blossom is one to look for in the hedgerows as it shows where to find sloes in the autumn, essential knowledge if wanting to make sloe gin.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Trees and Leaves - See It On A Postcard

Health Service

Today is COP28's Health Day to discuss how climate change is impacting human health and what can be done about it but I look back to simpler times in stamps

First Anniversary of People's Communes

A Chinese health worker with her first aid kit and

1987: St John Ambulance Centenary (Design - Debbie Cook)

something more elaborate for volunteers of  St John Ambulance Service.  One can depend on the Victorians for robust design.  St John Ambulance volunteers are a familiar sight at sporting occasions on hand to provide first aid.  They do many other things and during the pandemic they helped to screen donors for the blood transfusion service

1972: 20th Anniversary of the Post Office Employees Blood Donor Association

I assumed this stamp was for France's national blood donation service but on closer examination found it was celebrating  a non-profit organisation that encourages blood donors among employees of the French Post Office

1983: The Red Cross (Design - E Krag; Engraver Cz Slania)

The more famous Red Cross

2003: Public Health 400 Years (Design - Sverre Morken)

The small beginnings of public health in Norway from July 1603 when royal patent was awarded to the physician Villads Nielson and a lifelong annual income from the public purse to provide medical services to Bergen, the largest town in Norway at the time. In 1703 the first doctor was appointed as a public servant but not until the early 18th Century were there 5 physicians in the entire country. A single qualified midwife was not in service until 1740.  Things have grown since then with a transition from a social assistance state to welfare state after World War II.

1988: Health for All in 2000

Worldwide "Health for All" was a global strategy by the World Health Organisation launched in 1978 for extending health care coverage as a basic human right.  There has progress since then but still lots to do so now we have "Health for All in the 21st Century", things were a lot more optimistic in 1978.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Health or Medicine - hosted by the date prescient See It On A Postcard

Sheep Gathering

 The See It on a Postcard Thursday Postcard Hunt this week is a search for Working Animals

"Sheep Gathering in the Skidadalur valley Ljosmyndari"

and here are the  hardy Icelandic horses. Iceland's sheep spend the long summer days in the mountains but come September/October Icelandic farmers head to the mountains to gather the sheep in before the long cold dark winter arrives. The sheep roundup is called the Réttir and starts with search parties riding horses and quad-bikes to locate the roaming sheep.

2016: PHQ Card "40 Year of Aardman Animation"

No horses live at Mossy Bottom Farm but the farmer has his sheep dog Bitzer (who is always seen wearing the blue knitted hat the farmer gave him as a puppy).  Bitzer is never completely in control of Shaun the Sheep or the The Flock but life would be dull without them.

Polyglotism

 

1971: International Letter Writing Week - Paintings by Durer

I start with French although this stamp has connections to other languages. Durer's German and his painting of a Venetian Girl who would have spoken Venetian or Veneto, which I read evolved from Vulgar or Colloquial Latin.

1930: 2000th Anniversary of the Birth of Virgil (Design Corrado Mezzana)

1930 and everybody is speaking Italian. But wait. Head back into classical times, no such thing.  The Roman poet Virgil gets 13 stamps featuring scenes from his 'Aeneid' and 'Georgics', this a harvesting scene from the latter.  Now I move from Latin to Runic

1953-1956: The Millennial (Design V Bang; Engraving B Jacobsen)

 and the Runic inscriptions on the 10th Century Jelling Stone from Jutland

1981: Historical Writings (Design K Oberli; Engraving M Muller)

 and one from the Faroe Islands, the 9th Century Kirkjubøur stone.  Then we have the international language of music (a folk song from 1846) and a page from a 1298 code of laws.

 Seal with a ram and the title page of a book of 1673 with a library room as background

1953: Old Manuscripts (Design T Jonsson

 Lastly, a book translated into a myriad languages,. Here the  Stjórn interpretation of the Bible, a collection of Old Norse translations of the Old Testament

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - A Different Language - read more on See It On A Postcard