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| Left to Right: Infanta Elena, Queen Sofia with Infanta Sofia and Infanta Leonor in front, Prince Felipe, Princess Letizia |
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| The Countess of Wessex and Princess Beatrice |
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| The Queen, Lady Louise Windsor, and Princess Eugenie |
Date of Issue : 9 March 2012
Greetings on Easter
Polish Post issued a beautiful set of 3 stamps for Easter on 9 March 2012. The stamps feature symbols of Lamb, Egg and Bunny.
Easter is a Christian feast and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary as described in the New Testament. Easter is preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.
The last week of Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday, commemorating Maundy and the Last Supper, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.
The festival is referred to in English by a variety of different names including Easter Day, Easter Sunday,Resurrection Day and Resurrection Sunday.
Easter Customs around the world…
Many central and eastern European ethnic groups, including the Albanians, Armenians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Croats, Czechs, Greeks, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Macedonians, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Serbs, Slovaks, Slovenes, and Ukrainians decorate eggs for Easter.
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, a tradition of spanking or whipping is carried out on Easter Monday. In the morning, men spank women with a special handmade whip called a pomlázka (in Czech) or korbáč (in Slovak), or, in eastern Moravia and Slovakia, throw cold water on them. The pomlázka / korbáč consists of eight, twelve or even twenty-four withies (willow rods), is usually from half a meter to two meters long and decorated with coloured ribbons at the end. The spanking is not painful or intended to cause suffering. A legend says that women should be spanked with a whip in order to keep their health and beauty during the whole next year.
An additional purpose can be for men to exhibit their attraction to women; unvisited women can even feel offended. Traditionally, the spanked woman gives a coloured egg and sometimes a small amount of money to the man as a sign of her thanks. In some regions, the women can get revenge in the afternoon or the following day when they can pour a bucket of cold water on any man. The habit slightly varies across Slovakia and the Czech Republic. A similar tradition existed in Poland (where it is called Dyngus Day), but it is now little more than an all-day water fight.
In Croatia and Slovenia, a basket of food is prepared and covered with a handmade cloth, and brought to the church to be blessed. A typical Easter basket includes bread, colored eggs, ham, horseradish, and a type of nut cake called "potica".
The butter lamb (Baranek wielkanocny) is a traditional addition to the Easter Meal for many Polish Catholics. Butter is shaped into a lamb either by hand or in a lamb-shaped mould.
In Hungary, Transylvania, Southern Slovakia, Kárpátalja, Northern Serbia - Vojvodina and other territories with Hungarian-speaking communities, the day following Easter is called Locsoló Hétfő, "Watering Monday". Water, perfume or perfumed water is often sprinkled in exchange for an Easter egg.
Easter is the day when Jesus Christ was crucified and the Christians offer prayers and services in the Churches. Easter is another important festival for Christians. On this day Jesus Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Easter eggs and Easter bunnies are a major attraction during Easter, the festival of rejuvenation of life and living.
New Stamps on Easter
The Serbian Post has issued two stamps dedicated to the Easter Feast. For Orthodox Christians, Easter is the holiest day of the year. It marks Christ's resurrection from the dead and the end of 46 days of fasting with a sumptuous feast.
In Serbian Easter is called Vaskrs, a liturgical form inherited from the Serbian recension of Church Slavonic. The Easter service in the orthodox church starts at 11 on Saturday night and ends at midnight with the priest chanting "Hristos Vaskrse" (he is risen) three times.
Croatian Post has released fourteen new commemorative postage stamps with the theme "Easter - Stations of the Cross". Each stamp depicts one of the fourteen Stations of the Cross,the depiction of the final hours in the life of Jesus Christ. and has a face value of HRK 3.10.
The tradition of the Stations of the Cross originated in pilgrimages to Jerusalem, where pilgrims followed the footsteps of Christ to the cross.
Club News
Philatelic & Numismatic exhibition in Trichur
Shrine Bassilica of our Lady of Dolours and Trichur Philatelic Club is jointly organising a three day Philatelic cum Numismatic display on "Pope John Paul II and Christianity" from 29th April 2011 to 01st May 2011 on the occasion of Beatification of Pope John Paul II at Vatican which coincides with 25th Anniversary of John Paul II visit to Trichur, Kerala.
Venue: Bassilica Jubilee Hall, Trichur.
A Special cover on Pope John Paul II will also be released on this occasion
: Sreejesh Krishnan, Trivandrum
Date of Issue – 1 March 2011
Magyar Posta ( Hungary) issued stamp to commemorate Easter on 1st March 2011.The stamp design uses a reproduction of a work by the textile artist Erzsébet Szekeres entitled Hungarian Golgotha. The stamp’s first day cover is adorned by a detail from another work by the same artist, Lamb of God. The graphic design of the special postmark employs a stylised version of the lamb on the cover.
The word golgotha is derived from the Hebrew gulgoleth, and the Aramaic transcription of this (gulgalta) has been adopted and adapted in modern use. In Greek this is kranion, while the Latin translation calvaria provides the deriva-tion of our word calvary. The word means skull or place of skulls. Originally, it was the name of a hill in a quarry north north-west of Jerusalem, which was a place of execution in ancient times. The name probably refers to the skulls remaining from the executions. According to the Gospels this is the place where Jesus was crucified and buried.
: Magyar Posta
Easter stamp from Vatican City
Date of Issue – 21 March 2011
The stamp features the central moment of the salvific mission of Lord ??? the Resurrection ??? as seen in a detail of a wall mural located at the main entrance to the Sistine Chapel. The fresco is perhaps one of the least known of the Sistine Chapel and is a work by Flemish painter Hendrick van den Broeck. It is a copy of an original by Ghirlandaio which was destroyed when the door frame collapsed in 1522. The painting is one the masterpieces of the 1400s alongside the frescoed walls and great paintings by Michelangelo.
To be issued on 25 March 2011
Club News
From our Readers….
Slogans on Postal receipts
2011 Year of Forests
: Ashwani Dubey, Gorakhpur
A hospital for Birds
Private First Day cover
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Jain Bird Hospital
The Jain Bird Hospital in Delhi's Chandni Chowk was founded in 1956 and today has a capacity of 10,000 birds. 60-70 new patients are brought into the hospital each day by Jains and non-Jains alike and each bird is assessed by the hospital's doctor before being given a designated cage. There are separate ‘wards' for different types of birds and different illnesses, with separate areas for birds awaiting or recovering from surgery. The commonest patients are pigeons, doves, parrots and budgies but the hospital also cares for some peacocks and crows. The occasional golden eagle is even to be seen on the wards though due to their tendency to eat other patients they must be kept in solitary confinement.
75% recovery rate
Patients at the bird hospital can be divided into three categories: those suffering from diseases (notably cancer, paralysis or blindness), accidents (in particular collisions with cars, ceiling fans and glass window panes) or malnutrition. Depending on their condition the birds can be given surgery, have broken wings and bones set and bandaged, or be administered antibiotics and other drugs. All of the patients are given a high-nutrient diet during their hospital stay and each Saturday birds that have sufficiently recovered are released from the hospital roof. The hospital boasts an admirable 75% recovery rate and also ensures that those birds that are not so fortunate are respectively cremated on the banks of the nearby Jamuna River.
- Sanjiv Jain, Dehradun
email : jainsanjiv@live.com
Date of Issue – 4 March 2011
On 4 March 2011, the Slovak Post issued a new stamp to commemorate Easter, the most important Christian festival. A beautiful Maxim Card in sparkling colors was also issued.
Just like the blood of the Lamb of God saved the old Israelites in ancient Egypt from ten plagues of God, the death of Jesus Christ saved all Christians from eternal damnation. Therefore, the lamb became a symbol not only of Jesus Christ, but also of the Easter.
Old Slavs used to place painted eggs of clay to the dead into their graves. In Christianity, the egg is interpreted as a symbol of the closed grave from which Christ rose from the dead as a symbol of immortality. The folk tradition is connected with the custom of painting these eggs. The reason for eating eggs at Easter was probably the fact that it was not allowed to eat eggs in Lent. Similarly, the character of the Easter bunny, which now brings children chocolate eggs, has the archaic origin. In various cultures, the bunny is very often an attribute of immortality or resurrection, just like the motif of chick, which is hatched from the egg.
This year's issue of postage stamp dedicated to Easter displays the aforementioned symbolism in the form of traditional sweets typical for different regions of Slovakia. The stamp shows the Lamb of God - Agnus Dei with topping of whipped egg whites. FDC pictures the Easter chicks of egg whites with chocolate-butter cream decorated with marzipan, which also fall within the broader framework of folk art.
: Slovak Post
