Colors and Patterns

I'm under the lazy bed weather mood right now. It's been raining since yesterday evening and the whistling strong winds kept me up for most of the night. I woke up an hour ago (it's noon now), with a heavy head. I feel like doing nothing other than enjoy the warmth of bed. But of course, it's Sunday...and I've been excited to share the stamp I scanned last weekend for the theme: ethnic or national costumes.

I am interpreting this widely and including folk and traditional costumes.

To cap off the feature on Dutch costumes on my blog this week, here's a stamp from the Grenzeloos Nederland series 2010. Grenzeloos means 'boundless' and the series' theme is beyond borders - ancient ties of the Netherlands. For the August 2010 issue, the series featured the Netherlands influence on its former colony, Suriname.

This second stamp from the 2010 issue shows parallels between the Afro-Surinamese kotomisse and the Dutch women's costume. Uncle Wiki said that the koto was a functional dress. It's purpose was to protect the slave woman against their master's sexual interest. The stamp designer Ariënne Boelens said that the dress made the Creole women unattractive, similar to the Dutch women's style that is pious and veiled.

With my Friday post including a postcard of Finnish traditional costume along with the Dutch, I'm adding more colors and patterns on this feature. We're moving east from the Netherlands, to Belarus and Ukraine.

Issued on 18 August 2005, this stamp shows the Belarusian national costume for the Lepel region. The designer was Vladimir Savich. Characteristic of this costume is the white and red embroidery.

On these stamps, issued on 10 December 2004, we have Ukranian folk costumes. On the left is from a wedding in The Land of Ivano-Frankivsk, on the right is the exaltation of the cross from the Land of Lviv. 

For more stamps with traditional/folk/ethnic costumes, check out Viridian's blog roll at Sunday Stamps.

~maria

Dutch & Finnish Female Costumes

FI-1506946, Sender: Eero
Sent: 12 Aug 2012 from Jämsä, Finland
Received 7 Sep 2012, Traveled 8,885 km in 26 days

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Mary
Sent: 6 May 2013 from Sassenheim, The Netherlands
Received: 14 May 2013, Traveled 10,429 km in 9 days

All along I thought the folk costume of the women on the first postcard is from Netherlands. Lo and behold! The card is from Finland and those women are wearing the Finnish traditional costume. I confused the women to be Dutch because of the similar striped skirts, the apron, and the lace cap. I'm grateful to Eero, sender of the card, who responded to my inquiry and corrected me on my assumption.

I tried pin-pointing which elements of the costume are characteristic to each. However, I realized I can't just use the second postcard with young girls wearing the traditional Dutch costume as reference or the postcards from my two previous posts, because it seems that the Finnish costume is similar to some of the other Dutch costumes found on this site.

This is a post I'm sharing for Postcard Friendship Friday. If someone who has the knowledge of European folk/traditional costumes can read this post, I will be very grateful if he/she can be friendly enough to enlighten me about the difference/s between the two.

As promised, the theme for this week for my posts are traditional costumes. I have scanned stamps with traditional costumes from more countries. Please wish me luck that I don't confuse myself in identifying the stamps. I have more postcards with traditional costumes but I'll save them for future posts.

~maria

Mothers are angels.

RU-1235850, Sender: dinches
Sent: 24 Sep 2012, Sent from Ufa, Russia
Received: 16 Oct 2012, Traveled 7,089 20 in 22 days

I believe we shouldn't wonder if guardian angels are real or not. Mothers are the living proof that   guardian angels do exist. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all mothers and to all moms-to-be!

Happy Friday everyone! Enjoy the weekend!

~maria

Okita from the Kansei Era, Japan

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Leo Baluyot
Sent on 01 April 2013, Sent from Narita Airport T1, Japan
Received on 10 April 2013, Traveled 13,183 km in 9 days

Leo wrote: Here's some tea to relieve your stress from all the DRMP (residency) stuff. Konichiwa from Tokyo!

Reading on the internet about the artwork on this postcard was very interesting. I learned that Okita was a waitress, depicted on this artwork serving a cup of tea. She's a waitress at the Naniwaya Teahouse, near the Niomon Gate in the grounds of the Asakusa Kannon Temple She was reputed to be one of the Three Beauties of the Kansei era (1789-1801). *

The postcard is a reproduction of the original ukiyo-e artwork by Utamaro Kitagawa, one of the famed woodblock painters in the Japanese rich artistic and cultural history. Ukiyo-e means "pictures of the floating life (or everyday life)". This artistic style was most prominent during the 17th up to mid 19th century Japan, also known as the Edo period.

Submitting this card for Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday.

Happy weekend everyone!

~maria

Source: http://www.adachi-hanga.com/en_ukiyo-e/item/utamaro060.htm

Sinulog Festival Queens

I just returned to Manila from a 5-day fieldwork in Cebu City, and lookie here on what I've got ;-)

I saw this card in one of the tourist souvenir stalls in Cebu International Airport. I immediately grabbed a few copies since I've never seen a similar card in any of the bookstores (where I normally buy my cards from) here in Manila.

Sinulog is one of the prestigious and colorful festivals in the country. It is one of the most awaited events in the country's cultural calendar, held in Cebu every third Sunday of January. The feast is in honor of the Child King, Sto. Niño -- baby Jesus. 

One of the highlights of the festival is the street dancing. The Sinulog Festival Queen is picked from the most elegant, most vibrant, and most gorgeous among the lead dancers of the competing dance groups. During the dance, she is the character of Queen Juana, carrying the image of Sto Niño. This is to remember the gift by Magellan to Rajah Humabon, king of Cebu in 1951 -- when he and his people accepted Christianity. 

Cebu City is dubbed as the 'Cradle of Christianity' in the Philippines.

I'm sharing this with Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday blog roll. Sorry for the late post. I was dead tired when I arrived home yesterday and fell asleep reading the messages from the back of 28 Touchnote and 17 regular postcards that welcomed me back to my apartment :)

To read more about Sinulog, please click here. Happy weekend everyone! 

~maria 

Cards from Yuki of Japan

There's a nice story behind these cards. 

I saw the first card with the dancing girls of Japan from my random browsing of the postcrossing website. I contacted the sender of the card, Yuki. We agreed for a swap and I got the card on 22 Nov 2011.

The Maiko, or dancing girls of Japan preserve the traditional feminine charm of the kimono. In the card above, they are standing in front of a Buddhist pagoda at the Daikakuji Temple, Kyoto.

Two months after, I received an official postcrossing card...and to my nice surprise, the sender is the same Yuki who sent me the Maiko card from Nov 2011.

If you examine the map closely, you will see that the pictorial marker for Kyoto is a woman wearing a kimono. I was curious whether the cards were from the same printer, but no. The Maiko card was printed by NBC Inc. and the map card was by Asahi card. I guess Kyoto is really famous for the Maiko and the Daikakuji Temple, then!

Thank you so much Yuki for sending these cards to me.

Happy weekend everyone!

Pardon me,  Beth. This is a late post also for your Postcard Friendship Friday. 

~maria

Postcard ID: JP-233339

Traveled 2,659 km in 19 days

Russian woman in costume

Pardon me, folks! I'm a day late in greeting every female, HAPPY International Women's Day! I was swamped at work yesterday and I had a problem with my bank account (but happy that it was sorted out -- thanks to the bank's assistant manager, another female!).

In honor of the women's day, I am sharing a Russian countrywoman in her ornate costume postcard for Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday. The postcard came from Russia, many thanks to Uliana of Novosibirsk. 

The woman is wearing a peasant dress, sarafan with the traditional Russian blouse. This clothing style is no longer commonly worn, except for the sarafan, that is now used as a summer dress. The entire ensemble however can still be seen during folk music and dance performances or as souvenirs. I wish I can step into one and try wearing it myself! :D

Happy Postcard Friendship Friday, dear readers and blog hoppers!

~ maria