Poland Easter FDC

Poland FDC
Name: Easter
Date of Issue: 29 February 2008

Easter greetings

The most important in the Catholic Church holiday, the day of Jesus Christ's resurrection, in calendar coincides with the beginning of spring, and therefore its symbolism, although Christian, includes the traditional springtime elements as well. In order to enrich the holiday correspondence Poczta Polska since 1997 issues each year the special Easter stamps. The stamps feature usually religious scenes, folk customs and different symbols of the life reborn, such as painted eggs, chickens and the flowers and green plants. This year's your holiday greetings, mailed on the postcards or in letters, will be completed with colourful and optimistic stamps, being a perfect illustration of the universal joy, brought about by the celebration of Easter time.

The new stamps and FDC envelopes

Poczta Polska presents the Easter duo of stamps in the spring and holiday tones. On both of them there is shown a composition of painted eggs and paper cut-outs; similar cut-out in two colours, decorates the FDC envelope. For this issue the occasional postmark has been prepared with the motifs of chicken and baby rabbit, to be applied at the Warszawa 1 Post Office.

The contemporary Easter eggs

Such eggs as shown on the stamps do not necessarily copy the traditional patterns. Nowadays they are rather unique creations of the individual artists, depending on their own invention. Among them one may find all conceivable painting techniques, applied to the ostrich or geese eggs. There are also carved shells of blown eggs or the eggs "dressed" in laces or knitted wool.

The folk cut-outs

The paper decorations made by cutting out the holes precisely in the piece of paper, folded many times, what results in highly symmetrical patterns. This kind of holiday decorations is popular in Poland mainly in Masovia (region of Kurpie and vicinities of Łowicz and Opoczno) since the end of the 19th century, as earlier the paper was not available universally. The cut-outs, originally white and only later in different colours, used to be affixed to the peasants houses' walls before all the major holidays. Their motifs range from the abstract geometrical forms to the plant or animal representations. Their precision attains sometimes amazing level considering that they were made frequently with the sheep shearing scissors.

2008 Poland Easter FDC
2008 Slovakia Easter FDC