Superstition and Magic in Slovenia

Date of Issue : 25 May 2018

Slovenia Post issued a set of  five stamps on 25 May 2018 featuring popular superstitions and magic in Slovenia. The stamps feature Witches, black cats, protection of newborn babies, divination, St John's wreath.

One activity that is popular in Slovenia is weaving of St John's wreaths ,which are hung on front doors in Karst villages on Mid summer Night or St John's Eve in order to protect individual houses and the people in them from everything evil and bring good luck.This practice, which is carried out every year,is today listed in the register of intangible cultural heritage.

Many magical actions are also related to the protection of new born children. The most popular one was protection by means of a pentagram or "incubus paw" carved or painted on to the side of the child's cradle. Perhaps, the most popular are of superstition in Slovenia relates to belief in witches,i.e. fabulous or demonic beings, or to trust in people who were able to cast spells,tell fortunes ,prophesy and even heal.

Popular superstitions are associated with animals .A typical example of the latter is the black cat, which is generally held to bring bad luck. Today this phenomenon is present even in car culture ,and a black cat that crosses the street in front of a car is believed to signify something bad, in other words an accident.

Predicting good and bad news ,actions,events and destinies is the stuff of      divination and fortune-telling of many different kinds, including reading coffee rounds. In 19th century special books explaining the symbols created by coffee were written In Slovenia.

New Stamps on animals.

New Sheetlets from Czech Republic  with  stamps on animals  

Two Sheets of personalized stamps will be issued  in Czech Republic in the end of May. .
Each sheet with 25 stamps and all stamps are featuring different African animals.
The issue honors the former director of the Zoological Park in Dvur Kralove (Czech Republic).

It´s a limited Edition with 1 000 pieces of each sheet only.

-  Wolfgang Beyer, BDPh (German Philatelic Federation) and Slavomil Strnad (Czech Philatelic Federation)

• Fossil Mammals in Slovenia - Mastodon
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Date of Issue : 23 March 2018

Two million years ago the landscape of Slovenia was very different from the way we see it today. The soaring Alps in the west and the forested landscape with patches of marsh and endless plains in the east were an ideal environment for large proboscideans and other mammals. One of the last European mastodons – of the Anancus arvernensis species – would periodically graze in forest clearings here. Anancus arvernensis inhabited a large part of Europe, appearing in the late Miocene and surviving until the start of the Pleistocene. Some other species inhabited parts of Asia and Africa. The Anancus was very similar to today's elephants, although with much longer, straight tusks and different-shaped teeth. 

Fossil remains have been found in Slovenia in the Šalek Valley, near Slovenska Bistrica and in many parts of the Slovenske Gorice, Čentibske Gorice and Goričko hill regions. Teeth are the most frequently discovered remains. The best-known site for such finds was discovered near the village of Škala, not far from Velenje, where parts of a skeleton and tusks were also unearthed. The new postage stamp depicts a mastodon tooth discovered more than 70 years ago in a gravel pit close to Sveti Andraž in the Slovenske Gorice hill region. This large tooth (a molar) is from the lower jaw, as also indicated by its strong root. 

The age of the tooth is not entirely clear, but it is likely to have belonged to an animal that grazed this hill area, covered with sparse woodland, in the late Pliocene. Changes in the environment in the early Pleistocene, approximately two million years ago, also contributed to the extinction of the last mastodon to roam across the territory of present-day Slovenia. Today the mastodon's tooth is on display at the Natural History Museum of Slovenia. The stamp also incorporates a form of augmented reality: use the HP Reveal app to scan the stamp on a mobile device and launch an X-ray video of the cross section of the mastodon's tooth. Matija Križnar, senior curator, palaeontologist Natural History Museum of Slovenia 

Today the mastodon's tooth is on display at the Natural History Museum of Slovenia. The stamp also incorporates a form of augmented reality: use the HP Reveal app to scan the stamp on a mobile device and launch an X-ray video of the cross section of the mastodon's tooth. 

Source : Slovenia Post

Serenade Love stamp from Slovenia

Date of Issue : 26 January 2018

This beautiful Love stamp issued by Slovenia Post on 26 January 2018 showcases an interesting blend of contemporary technology and  traditional way to express love. Back in the classic era, it had become a trend among lovers to play romantic music or sing songs outside the window of whom they want to impress. The stamp design mixes up this tradition with the age of internet and mobile phones.

It features a huge cell phone. A boy is standing on a balcony that extends from the phone, and a girl is standing under the balcony trying to serenade and impress her love with a symbolic heart in her hand.

New Special Cover

A special cover was released at Chennai on 23rd Feb. 2018 to commemorate JITO Connect 2018 (Jain International Trade Organisation). Cover and special cancellation depict Swastik and siddh shila.

- Sudhir Jain, Satna (MP)

Chinese Horoscope - The Year of the Rooster

Date of Issue : 27 January 2017

The Slovenia Post issued a commemorative stamp "Chinese Horoscope - The Year of the Rooster "  on 27 January 2017.

The character for the rooster is found even in the earliest forms of Chinese writing – in inscriptions on turtle shells dating from between the fourteenth and eleventh centuries BC. Because the rooster has been present in Chinese culture for millennia, numerous meanings are associated with it.

As the daily herald of the dawn, the rooster is associated with accuracy, reliability, conscientiousness, infallibility and perseverance. With the dawn the rooster brings light, driving away demons and evil spirits. From as early as the third century, roosters were depicted in the paintings that were hung on the doors of houses at New Year. The rooster is traditionally shown in an upright position with an insect in its beak.

The rooster has been associated with cockfighting since before the second century BC, as shown by ancient written sources and works of art. Members of the higher social classes were the most enthusiastic followers of cockfights. The practice later spread into army circles, in order to awaken the soldiers' combative instincts and increase their desire to fight.

The combative spirit of fighting cocks was celebrated by poets and painters. One very famous line tells how despite the dark wind and rain, the cock tirelessly crows – symbolising the upright posture of the noble spirit that continues to fight for ideals despite living through dark times. In 1937 the same line was used to symbolise the resistance to the Japanese occupying forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The rooster has also found its place in the Chinese horoscope, where it represents the tenth of the twelfth animals of the zodiac. From the point of view of the Chinese horoscope, people born in the Year of the Rooster are said to be courageous, confident, active, persevering,open and honest.

Source : WOPA

Greetings on Valentine's Day

Love safely kept in a box.....

Date of Issue : 27 January 2017

14th February is celebrated as Valentine's Day all over the world. Slovenia Post issued a beautiful stamp to commemorate this very special day .

Over the centuries people in Slovenia have traditionally used at least three different types of chest. Large ones were used to store clothes and various valuable items. The most numerous kind were those used to store grain, and also dried fruit or beans. The third type consists of small chests, frequently also mere boxes or caskets, made of wood and other materials, that people used to store little items of value, gifts, letters and photographs.

These small chests are still widely used today. People use them to store special gifts that often represent the tangible manifestation of a romantic relationship, or even simply the memory of a love story. A first love letter, a chain, a ring, a pendant... All these items find a home in a vast variety of little boxes and caskets, where they represent, for their owners, the most intimate ties to specific individuals, memories of a special person, events, encounters, special days, personal celebrations or important milestones in their life. Such chests or boxes are often carefully stored and, together with the items they contain, afford us a genuine experience of memories of people, events and expressions of love.

Nature Parks in Slovenia

 

Ljubljansko Barje wetlands

Date of Issue : 25 September2015

Slovenia is a land of many natural treasures. This country stands from others by its gorgeous national parks and reserves. The tourists flow in Slovenia to contemplate the beautiful landscapes and gorgeous scenery. One on of those beauties is depicted on a new Slovenian stamp issue.

The Ljubljansko Barje wetlands are a unique blend of meadows, fields, hedges and channels where open green spaces meet the sky and the Ljubljanica, the river that has helped create this area over the course of history. Thanks to the traditional methods used to cultivate the land, the area is still distinguished by great biodiversity and diversity of landscape.

Water meadows, flood meadows and thousands of kilometers of drainage channels attract moisture-loving representatives of the animal kingdom. The Ljubljansko Barje offers a home to several hundred species of birds and to numerous butterflies, dragonflies and amphibians. The mutually dependent habitats of the Ljubljansko Barje clean the air, water and soil, help cool hot summers and offer people an opportunity for relaxation and discovery in the direct vicinity of Slovenia’s capital city.

Six thousand six hundred years ago the Ljubljansko Barje was a lake, on the shores of which more than forty piledwellers’ settlements grew up over the course of 3,000 years. In 2002 the oldest wooden wheel in the world was discovered in the Ljubljansko Barje. Part of a two-wheeled cart, it was made by an expert wheelwright 5,200 years ago.

In 2011 two groups of Barje pile-dwellings were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in recognition of their outstanding universal value. This combination of valuable natural features and rich cultural heritage today enjoys protected status within the Ljubljansko Barje Nature Park. The best way to discover its treasures is on foot, by bicycle or by boat.

Club  News

NEW PICTORIAL CANCELLATION IN GERMANY

On October 30th 2015 will be issued a new pictorial postmark in 81823 München(Munich).The postmark is featuring the skeleton of a mammoth. Interested philatelists may please contact Wolfgang Beyer, Vice Chairman of the German Philatelic Collector Group ARGE ZOOLOGIE. Mail: Wolfgang.beyer1@aol.de , Postage rates: 0,80 Euro AIRMAL, 2,95 Euro REGISTERED AIRMAIL.

Courtesy: Wolfgang Beyer, Germany

News from Philatelic Societies

Celebrating 175th Anniversary of World's First Adhesive Postage

Chandigarh Philatelic Club, the pioneer philatelic club in the north, having been established in 1967 emerged pioneer once more by Celebrating 175th Anniversary of World's First Adhesive Postage  on the 6th May, 2015 in Chandigarh.

More than 300 students of St. Stephen's School, their teachers and eminent philatelists of the Club participated in the event.

A presentation on Penny Black, Two Penny Blue and Penny Red was made  by the undersigned.The original stamps from my collection were un-veiled by me during the presentation.

The gathering was enlightened about the evolution of Penny Black after the Postal Reforms by Sir Rowland HIll. Process of printing such stamps was also explained to them.

Afterwards, a Special Cover, designed internally for the Club, was also released to mark the Anniversary.Subsequently, students and their teachers were individually taken towards the exhibits and their queries answered.

- Abnash Luthra – Chandigarh

Animal Poaching awareness

 

South Africa Post issued a set of stamps featuring six endangered South African species to raise awareness of illegal animal trade.

Mlu Mathonsi, acting Group CEO of the Post Office, said a total of 50 000 stamp sheets will draw attention to the plight of the oribi, black rhino, grey crowned crane, ground hornbill, sungazer and Cape parrot.

The six were selected by the Endangered Wildlife Trust, an organisation founded in 1973 with the purpose of protecting South Africa’s threatened wildlife species. The artwork on the stamps is by Alan Ainslie, a wildlife artist who has exhibited with world-renowned artists such as Raymond Harris-Ching (New Zealand), Keith Joubert (South Africa) and Paul Bosman (US).

“But the Post Office is doing more than raise awareness. The Endangered Wildlife Trust has trained staff at South Africa’s international mail centres so X-ray machine operators know how to identify animals and animal parts in parcels to foreign countries”, Mathonsi said.

Animal poaching is an increasing global phenomenon. In Southern Africa, poaching has increased at an alarming rate. The situation has become so bad that local newspapers have labelled our national wildlife parks “killing fields”. Estimated to be the third largest illegal industry worldwide after drugs and human trafficking, poaching often has its roots in organised, trans-boundary crime and is among the most serious threats to the survival of plant and animal populations.

Poaching has a detrimental effect on biodiversity both within and outside protected areas. As wildlife populations decline, species are depleted locally, and the functionality of ecosystems is disturbed.

It is believed that sophisticated rhino and other wildlife theft networks are in operation, using helicopters and trucks to “strip South Africa of its wildlife”. Wildlife organisations in the country are therefore forced to continually increase security measures to protect our conservation areas and their wildlife.

Newq Stamp on Tourism theme

Laško – Tourist’s favourite destination

Slovenian Post  released a special stamp that depicts Laško – one of the most famous tourist destinations of Slovenia on the 7^th of March.

Laško is particularly renowned for the tradition of beer brewing and healing water springs. Wellness and health tourism are based on honey and beer treatment and are accessible to all.

The countryside around Laško offers pleasant spots, surroundings with its cultural and natural heritage intact. Unspoilt and interesting landscape is waiting to be discovered and explored. They invite you to countless mountain and hiking trails crisscrossing the local hills and valleys, leading through forests, over meadows and pastures.

In Laško, a large number of food and drink tastings take place all year round, as do several displays and presentations of local growers, craftsmen and artists.

First underground Post Office of the world

 

Date of Issue : 22 March 2013

Slovenia Post issued a souvenir sheet on 22 March  2013 featuring world’s first underground Post Office  of the world.

The first underground Post Office

Postojna Cave is the most famous cave in Europe, welcoming half a million visitors each year. In its 200-year tradition of tourism, the cave’s beautiful dripstone formations have been admired by 35 million people, including 150 monarchs. The cave extends for 21 kilometres. Tours of the cave have been possible for 141 years via the cave railway. It is a cradle of bio speleology, and an area with the greatest diversity of cave fauna in the world, since in addition to the proteus or “human fish”, it is home to the first cave beetle, Leptodirus hochenwartii, and 100 other species of cave fauna. Prior to the appearance of postcards, the cave had already
enjoyed a long tradition of tourism.

The number of postcards sent from Postojna grew markedly at Whitsuntide and the Feast of the Assumption, when mass events and dances were held. For this reason the cave management sent a request to the Austrian trade ministry in Vienna for the opening of a post office in the cave.

Postojna Cave – Underground Post Office

Date of Issue : 22 March 2013

On 15 August 1899, next to the Dance Hall, 500 metres from the entrance to the cave, the first underground post office in the world was opened. It used the postmark “ADELSBERGER GROTTE – POSTOJNSKA JAMA”. At first the post office was open only on special occasions, but after 1911 it operated regularly, with a record 75,000 postcards being sent at that time on Whitsun Monday, and thereafter 6,000 to 11,000 were posted each day. Even during the First World War, when Postojna hosted the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian forces for the Soča (Isonzo) Front, the underground post office stayed open, and continued to operate between 1922 and 1927, after the annexation of Postojna to the Kingdom of Italy. At that time the post office used the postmark “POSTUMIA (GROTTE)”. In May 1927 a second underground post office was constructed in the Concert Hall, 1400 metres from the cave entrance, and this operated up until 1945.

Miss World 2013 on stamp

 

 Not only is Filipina-American actress, Megan Young, the crowned most beautiful woman in the world, she has now been honored by the Philippine Postal Corporation on 24th March 2014 with her postage stamp.

In a ceremonial launch at the Post Office Building, Monday morning, Miss World 2013 Megan Young personally unveiled her framed stamp and signed souvenir sheets and stamps that spectators and collectors purchased.

According to Postmaster General Josie Dela Cruz, Miss World 2013 Megan’s triumph is very much deserving of a place in the roster of PHLPost stamps not only because of her sheer beauty but mainly because of her undeniable charm and will to win the pageant for her fellow Filipinos.

Eighty thousand (80,000) copies of the Megan Young stamps were released last February 24, 2014 which feature the image of Young, taken as she was crowned Miss World 2013 during the pageant held at Indonesia, printed in embossed gold stamping technique.

The stamp costs Php 30.00 and Php 40.00 each while the souvenir sheet is sold Php 100.00 per piece.Megan Lynne Young is the first Filipina to win the title of Miss World since its creation in 1951.

Indian philately to be showcased at Slovenia fair

Ljubljana, March 26 (IANS) India Post will put on display the evolution of Indian philately at an annual international exhibition in Slovenia's capital from March 27-29.

Slovenia Post and the Slovenia Philatelic Association will support the display of Indian stamps in this Central European nation, First Day Covers and other materials at the annual international fair COLLECTA, according to the Indian Embassy in Ljubljana. 

India Post will be in focus at this fair. Slovenia Post will also circulate the Indian stamps through major post offices to generate widespread interest in Indian philately.

The process initiated by the Embassy of India in Ljubljana is expected to culminate with the joint issue of stamps by postal authorities of both the countries to commemmorate an event significant to both partners, such as Children's Day.

The popularisation of Indian philately in Slovenia is aimed at promoting awareness and curiosity about India to boost tourism and foster greater knowledge and mutual understanding, the embassy said.

COLLECTA brings together international collectors and traders including those interested in philately, numismatics,  military, antiques, vinyl records and CDs, comics, figurines, minerals, fossils and precious stones.