Yugoslav Red Cross Stamps

The first Yugoslav Red Cross (JCK) stamp from 1933.

During the third week of September, 1933, the government of the former Yugoslavia issued a special stamp to be used on all correspondence and packages throughout the week. The stamp was a special week-long postal tax to collect money from the public for the Jugoslavija Crveni Križ, or the Yugoslav Red Cross. All the money used by the public to buy stamp booklets that week was donated to the JCK.

This first Red Cross stamp was the beginning of a stamp tradition that continued throughout much of Yugoslavia's existence and still continues today in modern-day Serbia!

After seeing the success of this innovative way of collecting funds for the JCK a decade earlier, the Yugoslav government-in-exile issued Red Cross stamps throughout the World War II years when Yugoslavia was under Nazi occupation. The Red Cross stamps would continue to be issued yearly on Solidarity Week throughout the decades of Socialist rule and were issued well into Yugoslavia's dying days in 2002-03. 

Throughout the decades they were issued in Yugoslavia, subjects of the Red Cross stamps varied. The first stamp from 1933 was a tax stamp with the Red Cross emblem on the face. Many issued during the Communist and Socialist years commemorated the Red Cross's fight against diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. Others commemorated various other national health charities and organizations along with the Red Cross and featured their logos as well. And others simply featured the natural scenery of Yugoslavia along with the logo of the Red Cross.

Various Yugoslav Red Cross stamps from the 1950s-60s.

Many Yugoslav Red Cross stamps issued in the days prior to 1990 featured not only the standard Red Cross emblem, but those of the Red Crescent and The Red Lion and Sun as well.

One popular Red Cross stamp theme was the massive earthquake of 1963 that devastated the city of Skopje (capital of modern-day Macedonia). Stamps were issued well into the 1980s depicting the Skopje train station clock permanently stuck at 5:17 pm (the moment the quake struck) and the devastation around it. The Yugoslav authorities didn't want people to forget why it was so important to collect funds for the Red Cross every year.....

Today Solidarity Week is still held every year in Serbia and Red Cross stamps are still issued every year just as they have been for most of the past 80 years. Some of the newer stamps feature similar artwork and themes to those of the past, but newer designs featuring more modern images have been featured.

(Image credits for 1933 tax stamp: A. Sdobnikov/Wikimedia Commons.)

Hungarian New Year's 1963 Stamps

Hungarian New Year stamps from 1963.

To commemorate the New Year in 1963, the Hungarian Post issued a very interesting set of stamps: A special New Year's semi-postal featuring New Year's revellers, various plants and decorations. Also featured prominently on these stamps are New Year's greetings in four different languages (English, French, German, and Russian). While most foreigners are unfamiliar with the imagery in these stamps, these are some very ancient New Year's customs practiced by most Hungarians.

In most of the stamps in this set, four-leaf clovers and horseshoes are featured prominently on their faces. In Hungarian culture, the four-leaf culture resembles the Cross and is considered a powerful good-luck charm that can also ward off evil. Since horses have been a part of Hungarian culture for centuries and are considered to be creatures with great magical powers (as well as iron, which in itself is regarded as a "lucky metal"), the horseshoe is also considered a good luck charm. It's only natural that the artist chose to include these traditional Hungarian good-luck symbols in this stamp series!

In the middle stamp above, we can see a child dressed in a black outfit and carrying a long wire brush over his shoulder. This child is a chimney sweep. In many of the central and eastern European countries - including Hungary - running into a chimney sweep on New Year's Day is considered a very auspicious omen. As a matter of fact, in olden times, people in Hungary would run out into the streets of their city and village and touch the buttons of the chimney sweep for good luck as he went by on his bicycle on New Year's Day! This stamp commemorates that tradition very well....and makes those of us outside of Hungary very curious about this tradition, as well as all the others depicted in these stamps!

All in all there are a total of eight stamps in this set ranging from 20 to 2,50 forints.

This is certainly one of the most unique stamp sets to be issued by the Hungarian Post, and one filled with plenty of traditional Hungarian symbolism, culture, and lore!

For more about Hungarian New Year's traditions, check out the sites below:
-http://magyarnews.org/photos/File326.pdf (Article from Magyar News about Hungarian New Year's traditions.)
-http://www.luckymojo.com/chimneysweep.html (Page from the Lucky W Amulet Archive about the tradition of the chimney sweep in Europe.)
-http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1916&dat=19811114&id=f-cgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L24FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1158,3079801 (Article from Norwalk, CT's newspaper The Hour about Hungarian-American chimney sweeps....and how the chimney sweep has a very important role to play on New Year's Day in Hungary.)

Welcome to "The Stamp Blog"!

Hello and welcome to "The Stamp Blog"! If you're reading this blog, chances are you're a current, passive or former philatelist. No matter which category you fall in, this is the blog for you. You're sure to find plenty about the wide world of stamp collecting at this blog!

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