Majestic

 

1965: Birds

Its that time of year when ones mind turns to holidays. Perhaps a trip to Malaysia where the locals might point out a Murai Gajah (Asian Fairy Bluebird) on a tree.

 

1994: Malaysian Airlines inaugural flight cover

 Fly out of Malaysia to Buenos Aires to dance the tango under a moonlit Brazilian sky.  Where next? 

 

Travel back in time to the 1950s and the Hotel Majestic in Acapulco, Mexico

 

 

A sea view from their rooms

 

Definitive 1950s: Architecture and Archaeology 

 

Buy a Michoacan Mask as a memento although a lot of these dance masks look very scary.

 

 

Catch some sport at the Mexico City University Stadium. Built in 1952, at the time the largest stadium in Mexico. It is now called the Olympic Stadium after hosting the 1968 Summer Olympics

1969: Tourism

Enjoy visiting the Pyramids in the ancient city of Teotihuacan (place of the gods).  Not built by the Aztecs or Mayans but an ancient race, origins unknown.

  

Sunday Stamps A-Z for Mexico, Malaysia and Majestic - See It On A Postcard 

Dancing

1986: Dodo Carnival

The Dodo Carnival is a tradition of wearing animal masks and dancing though the villages of Burkina Faso which sounds like a fun day out. The Dodo legend originated in Nigeria and was introduced into Burkina Faso by traders. The story goes that a man during the Friday of Ramadan went hunting, which is forbidden, and killed an animal. He was punished by being transformed into a man with an animal head but his village did not shun him but tried to gain mercy from the gods by dance and there it is on the stamp.

1950-52 Airmail

More dressing up but here for the Dance of the Half Moon

1970: Visit Indonesia - Traditional Dances (Design: Soerosa)

For something prettier turn to Timor dancers who can make their own music.

1982: Europa - British Theatre (Design (Adrian George)

Or perhaps a floaty ballet dress. The designer Adrian George won an international award for this set and also Most Beautiful Stamp in the World which I would guess was for this ballerina

1959-1965: Copenhagen Music and Ballet Festivals (Design - H Thelander; Engraver - B Jacobsen)

Another ballerina dances into view and the stamp features Margrethe Schanne in her most iconic role, from the one act ballet Les Sylphides which she danced over 100 times including her farewell performance for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1966. She was also the first living Dane (apart from the Royal family) to appear on a Danish stamp.  The music for Les Sylphides is Chopin but if you prefer Tchaikovsky

1993: Death Centenary of Pyotr Tchaikovsky (Design - Riess)

then maybe take a trip to see Swan Lake or perhaps it is showing on a television set somewhere but of a much larger size than this one -

2000: The 20th Century Issue 3 (Design - Keith Bassford; Engraver - Martin Morck)

Is this a comment on women's roles in the 1950s?  The theme is communications and Arena was a Danish producer of radio and television sets started by Ove Heath Nielsen in the corner of his father's bicycle factory but grew to become the largest supplier of televisions in Denmark in the late 1950s.  Today its place is in the Industrial Museum in Horsens where the factory was located.

Sunday Stamps II prompt this week is the Letter D - here for Denmark, Dodo and Dance - See It On A Postcard

Guadalajara

Hidalgo Government Palace, Guadalajara

Painted by José Clements Orozco between 1936-1939 in the Government Palace, this portrait of Miguel Hidalgo, who initiated the independence of Mexico and in this same building abolished slavery in 1810.

Two influential people in one card, Hidalgo, who fought for Mexican freedom and, Orozo, one of the leaders of the Mexican Muralists.  Orozo was a politically committed artist and his bold murals established the Mexican Mural Renaissance. His art can be seen in both Mexico and the USA. My sender, Ramón, says the Orozo is one of the greatest muralists in Mexico's history and he thinks this mural is amazing.  I'm trying to imagine what it must look like full size, I've seen a photograph in its location and it looks huge.

The card came with

a postage label. which I am not keen on, prefering stamps, but I think it is interesting for two reasons.  One, I like the pigeon logo by Gonzalo Tassier, first used in June 2009, which replaced the head of an eagle symbol of the Correos de Mexico.  The computerised system in Mexico is called the "Sistema Integral de Operatión" (SIO), the history and a few pictures of post offices here.

The other reason is that as can be seen the label was affixed on 18 November 2010, then it must have nestled down into a postage bag until the postal weight exchange between Mexico and the UK took place when it was stamped with the date 24 March 2011 as it left Guadalajara. It plopped through my letter box having taken 222 days from when Ramón posted it, but worth the wait.

Thank you Ramón, an amazingly dramatic card.