Issue date: 05 Apr, 2017
See also “First Day Cover” - “Postmark”
The only stamp issue of the year presented in booklet format
Every spring, all over Spain, the ancient traditions and customs of Semana Santa return, and to mark this important cultural activity Correos is issuing four stamps commemorating four places in Spain where people celebrate these rituals with particular fervour.
Cáceres: Semana Santa in Cáceres was classified as of International Tourist Interest in 2011. One of its oldest religious brotherhoods, the Hermandad del Cristo Negro, is surrounded by mystery and legend, as it is said to be related in some way to the founding of the Order of Christ by twenty Knights Templar in 1319. The stamp shows the processional float of El Señor Camino del Calvario, a beautiful composition of the Fallen Christ with Saint Veronica wiping his face.
Zamora: Semana Santa in Zamora was declared to be of International Tourist Interest in 1986. Silence, solemnity, broken only by the sound of a choir, the processions, or a prayer. Music also plays an important part in the city’s traditions, with pieces like Thalberg’s Funeral March, or the Miserere chant. The stamp shows a lantern lit by a candle, which people carry in some of the processions accompanying the floats.
Malaga: sun, sea, and the art to be found on the streets during these days have made this city a favoured destination for Semana Santa. Malaga experiences Semana Santa with exuberant crowds, who cheer and applaud the images in the processions and sometimes break into spontaneous saetas. Districts have their own processions, such as Nueva Málaga, where local people carry their floats, the Nazareno del Perdón and the Virgen de Nueva Esperanza, for over 12 hours without showing any signs of fatigue, with the whole neighbourhood cheering them on. The stamp shows Malaga’s patron, Nuestro Padre Jesús Cautivo, which is brought out for a procession on Holy Monday.
Lower Aragon: Albalate del Arzobispo, Alcañiz, Alcorisa, Andorra, Calanda, Híjar, La Puebla de Híjar, Samper de Calanda, and Urrea de Gaén are the towns and villages of the Ruta del Tambor y el Bombo (Drum and Bass Drum Route). In this tradition, groups begin drumming at the same time and keep going for many hours. The start of drumming is called “breaking time”, and in most of the villages is at midnight of Holy Thursday, while in Calanda it begins at noon on Good Friday. From that moment, the sound of the drums continues without stopping until Easter Saturday. The stamp shows an illustration of this moment.
Carmen Álvarez Casanova
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.