Sunday Stamps - (H) Huangmei Opera from China

For the letter H - Huangmei Opera

2014 - China - Arts & Culture

Designer: Zhang Wang

Released on 6 July 2014, the picture on this stamp is entitled "The Emperor's Female Son-in-Law". This is one of the grand plays staged for the Huangmei Opera. Huangmei Opera traced its origins from 200 years ago in the rural parts of China, among which are Anhui, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces. The costumes used in the plays are less extravagant as compared to other forms of Chinese opera. The focus was more on the tone and the beautiful singing. Storylines mirrored reality and that's why it has won the hearts of the audience. Huangmei Opera is in the list of China's national intangible cultural heritage.

For more stamps with letter "H" - visit See It On A Postcard

P.S. The Postcards for the Weekend re-opens next weekend. Woohooo! It will be open by 12 AM, 13 Oct and close by 12 NN, 15 Oct. It shall follow the same schedule every weekend from then on. As before, there will be a different theme for each weekend while every first weekend of the month will always be dedicated for anything you wish to share. Hope to see more beautiful postcards from all deltiologist bloggers! Thanks to Eva of Mail Adventures for encouraging me to restart this linky! Cheers x

Postcards for the weekend 86: Costumes

First, thank you so much Monica from Beyond the Lone Islands for correcting me on the Postcards for the weekend # for last week. I have edited the post and entered the right #.

For this weekend, our theme is costumes.

LV-257306, Sent from Riga, Latvia
Travelled 9,267 in 17 days

On this postcard are folk costumes from Latvia. I noticed plenty of fabric, beautiful headdresses, and belts. I wonder which areas of Latvia each were from ...

This postcard was given to me as a souvenir from Kenya. The Maasai is an ethnic group found in Kenya and Tanzania. A red sheet worn around the body is a preferred item of clothing.

Happy weekend,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 38: Traditional festival

Direct Swap, Sender: Meylinda from Hong Kong
Sent: 19 Sep 2012, Traveled 1,129 km

Although I don't totally agree with seeing these children in what seems to be heavy facial make-up, it appears that it is part of the over-all traditional costume. The back of this card reads:

Cheung Chau Island Bun Festival. The children in the procession are the stars of the Bun Festival. Aged between five and eight, they are supported on frames and carried shoulder-high throughout the whole parade to create an elaborate, often whimsical tableau, often representing characters in history or mythology. 

 This festival is celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth month in Chinese Calendar. It usually coincides with Buddha's birthday (April/May). 

BY-691110, Sent by Marina from Minsk, Belarus
Sent: 1 Dec 2012, Traveled 8,926 km in 61 days

Despite my increasingly overwhelming tasks at work and frequent business trips, one of the reasons why I keep on writing about my postcards collection is the mix of emotions I get whenever I review my postcards album. Just like with this postcard, it's kind of hard to believe that it took 2 months to reach me! Wow! Having moved to Singapore, the postcards I receive normally traveled only for a week or two. I don't understand why most of my received postcards, while I was still in the Philippines, seem like they traveled forever to reach me when my home is less than 30 minutes by car from the post office ... well, okay, fair enough, perhaps the postman is always stuck in heavy traffic!

Moving on, this postcard shows the celebration of the Day of Belarusian Written Language in Kamenets. I didn't have the chance to find out on what year this took place. For this year, this festival will take place in Polotsk. Belarus is celebrating 500th Anniversary of the Belarusian Book Printing this year, 2017. More information on this festival can be found here: http://www.belarus.by/en/about-belarus/culture/den_bel_pism_en

SI-52097, Sender: Emil from eastern Slovenia
Sent: 20 Jan 2012, Traveled 9,938 km in 14 days

I'm quite pleased with the assortment of postcards I found for the theme this weekend: featuring children, to grown-ups, to animated creatures. This third and last postcard shows the Ptuj carnival called Kurentovanje. This carnival is celebrated to preserve the tradition for the ancient rite of spring. It usually lasts for a period of eleven days and consists of music and dancing, with the Kurent groups in masks with feathers and horns. I found this excellent page about the carnival, containing a detailed explanation about the masks and the costumes: http://www.slovenia.si/culture/tradition/kurents/

This theme educated me about traditional festivals that I'm sure I wouldn't have known at all if not for these postcards. Have a nice weekend everyone although it's a nay for me as I'm working both on Saturday & Sunday.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 37: Traditional costumes

Private Swap, Sent from Tabua, Portal
Sent 6 July 2013, Traveled 11,948 km in 20 days

I did a little research about Portuguese traditional costume for women and found out that although it typically varies by region, normally it consists of bouffant long skirt for women. The skirt is called saia and is of vibrant checkered or striped pattern. Well I shouldn't be surprised myself, hailing from a country that was a Spanish colony for 300+ years! The same item of clothing is called saya, in my lingua franca.

Direct Swap, sent from Lithuania
Sent 2 Feb 2012, Traveled 9,116 km

Diana, the sender wrote that this young lady is wearing a traditional Lithuanian costume and is seen here making a bird from yarn.

These two cards are for this weekend's theme -- traditional costumes. To discover more traditional costumes featured in postcards, check out what other participants below have shared on their respective pages.

Happy weekend,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 28: Japan

The theme for this weekend is from a country you have visited or a favorite place in your country that you have visited. I'm sharing postcards for the former.

Last November 2016, I traveled to Japan with my partner and four other friends. Our first destination was the old capital of Japan, Kyoto.

Postcard sent to self from Kyoto, Japan
13 November 2016, Traveled 5,368 km

I would admit that I was faked in a kinda ignorant way by women walking around in kimono. I thought these are real Japanese women who roam around as part of their local tourism board initiatives. But then, I came to a realization that many of them are tourists who have rented a kimono for the day. Many boutiques offer such experience including photo shoots.

JP-905949, Sent from Saitama, Japan
Traveled 5,368 km in 17 days

I can still remember how delighted I was when I received this postcard and the explanation behind the photo back in December 2016. This was one of the fishes we were wondering about the name when we're in our Japan holiday. It's a narrow and long fish with not much flesh but very tasty. It was explained by the postcard sender that this fish is locally called as autumn sword fish or sanma. Its common name is Pacific saury.

Postcard sent to self from Nikko, Japan
16 November 2016, Traveled 5,368 km

Nikko, our second destination in Japan is a town renowned for lavishly decorated shrines and temples. On this postcard is the heavily decorated Yomei-mon Gate at the Toshogu Shrine. It was under renovation and covered by scaffolding and while plastic drapes when we were there. Nonetheless, the rest of the place was equally astonishing. More details about this UNESCO WHS can be found here. 

Postcard sent to self from Tokyo, Japan
20 November 2016, Traveled 5,368 km

Our third and final destination was the bustling and busy capital city of Tokyo. The atmosphere was a stark contrast with that of Kyoto and Nikko. Tokyo was a maze of tall buildings, colorful neon lights at night, and people on the go regardless of the time of the day. 

Japan was a balance of relaxation with the charm of the old world in Kyoto and Nikko, and adventure with the action-filled urban atmosphere of Tokyo.

Happy weekend everyone! Looking forward, as always, to see the postcards you're sharing for this weekend's theme.

~maria