Fairy Tales, Hungary

I was a bit surprised to see how scarce mothers / children are in my stamps collection. My initial choice was a cat FDC, since the mother cat and the kitty were featured ON the FDC, but not on the actual stamp... and then during my second browsing of my albums, I noticed these, and I knew that would be my choice for today since they all feature children (or dwarfs 😎)

What saddened me is that I actually miss most of the stamps that are part of these two issues, so I guess I will have to work on that now.

Both issues feature fairy tales, with the top two being issued on 15th December 1959, while the bottom two, on 1st December the following year.
Both issues come in a set of 8 stamps, and have the same designers too. Well, ok, the 1959 stamps were designed by Gábor Éva, while the 1960 ones, both by Gábor Éva and Zombory Éva.

I dont think that Gábor Éva has anything to do with the actress of the same name, but just a nice coincidence.

Embarrassed to say I only recognize Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs... the other three seem soooo familiar but I just cant connect them to a name, so if anyone recognizes any of the other three, please mention it in the comments 💙💚💛

I used to read a loooot of fairy tales when I was little, whether it was the Grimm Brothers or Hans Christian Andersen or this fantastic collection of books with a green cover with tales from all over the world - I think that fairy tales are suitable even for grown ups, just that you read them with a different frame of mind compared to when you were a child

And I've learned that today is Mother's Day in some countries, so happy Mother's day to those celebrating.
In Macedonia it is on the 8th of March, and it is a day of buying expensive gifts for teachers and working women leaving early from work and going to a corporate lunch, paid by their company of course - so yeah, that's what Mother's day has mainly turned into here... I wonder what's the situation in other countries?

Hope you had a nice weekend and have a nice week ahead... and dont forget to check the other entries for today 


Edit: Dear Katalin saw my cry for help and helped me out!
So the 40f stamp from 1959 shows "Mattie the Goose-boy", a Hungarian epic-poem by Mihály Fazekas while the 40f stamp from 1960 shows "The miller, his son and the donkey" by La Fontaine (Now I may, just may have read this last one)

Thank you thank you Katalin!!!

Hedgehogs

The first two words that crossed my mind for today were Horse and Halloween.Until while browsing through my stamps I came across the Hedgehogs. And I knew that this was it!
I love horses, but I am a real die-hard fan of hedgehogs, so there was no doubt what the choice would be between those two.


First is this FDC from Hungary, issued by Magyar Post on 9th April 2013.
Magyar Posta periodically presents the breeds and species of animal indigenous to Hungary and on this occasion the protected predatory and insectivorous mammals the stoat, pygmy shrew, European lynx and greater mouse-eared bat feature on the stamps in the series, the the northern white-breasted hedgehog is shown on the numbered stamp block.

Well, except in Hungary, the hedgehog is also widespread in Poland, Austria, the former Yugoslavia (as we will see below), Greece and the Adriatic Islands, including populations on Crete, Corfu and Rhodes. It is found eastwards through Russia and Ukraine, as far east as the Ob River in Siberia. There are no signs of a significant population decline, fortunately.

The second FDC comes from Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued on 17th April 2018, and presenting as well the White-breasted Hedgehog! I wonder if hedgehog stamps are kinda naturally issued in April for some reason :D

Every summer, there are hedgehogs passing through my backyard (though not that frequently this summer), and sometimes I have the chance to pet them. I wish I could squeeze them and hug them and all but they were just not meant to be for that :) But if I could keep a hedgehog as a pet, I definitely would! They are just beyond beyond adorable! ❤❤❤❤❤❤

Well, enough about hedgehogs. For more H-related posts, visit today's edition of Sunday Stamps... and have a great Sunday! 

Astronomy, Hungary

Well, the weekend getaway plans had failed, so I could do my Sunday duty properly for a change :)
And coming with a double G today, with Mr. Galielo Galilei (though maybe I could sneak in Galaxy here as well...)

On 8th of May 2009, Hungary issued this fantastic mini-sheet for that year's EUROPA theme, Astronomy. I am not into EUROPA stamps, but Astronomy is definitely one of my favourite subjects, so that is one joyous year to think about :D

As for the man himself presented on the stamps here, I don't think any special introduction is needed.

For more G-related posts, check out today's edition of Sunday Stamps. 

Animal Cubs, Hungary

For the previous Y, I went with stamps from Yugoslavia and that one is more or less like a very safe bet for me, having an abundant amount of stamps from there.
And in order not to be repetitive and kinda predictable, I won't be exploiting the easiest solution, but will show this very cute FDC instead.

Issued by Magyar Posta on 4th March 2014, this FDC contains twelve animal cubs, residents of the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden - animal cubs, or for the purpose of this post, Young animals :)

The cutest thing is that all these young residents have come on the stamps with their own names, so here you have the chance to meet:
- Sempala the giraffe,
- Sid the two-toed sloth,
- Jakab the Barbary sheep,
- Moira the orang-utan,
- Bangita the blackbuck,
- Maszat the prairie dog,
- Mazsola the ground cuscus,
- Rozi the meerkat,
- Gizmó the ring-tailed lemur,
- Skipper the African penguin,
- Kiran the Asiatic lion and
-Willo the common wombat.


In the upper and lower margin of the stamps the gender, name, species name and date of birth of each of the cubs are indicated, and their original habitat is written and shown in the map in the rand part of the sheet.

I had the chance to visit the Budapest zoo years ago, and it is definitely one of the most beautiful zoos I've been to (though in general I cannot say I've been to many, but still).

Ok, these youngsters are not so young nowadays since 4 years had passed since the stamps have been issued, but they are still young for my Y contribution today :)

For more Ys, hop over to the Sunday Stamps blog and its latest edition.

Total Eclipse of the Sun, Hungary

Im not quite sure if this post is exactly fitting today's Sunday Stamps theme of "Organizations, Special Events", but I find the Total Eclipse of the Sun as one very special event and therefore want to share with you today this Hungarian issue from 1999, where this Solar Eclipse is presented.

This Eclipse occurred on 11 August 1999, something that seems quite distant right now, but I actually do remember when it happened even though from here in Macedonia we didn't really have the best experience possible, but I do remember this weird kind of sensation in the sky and all those constant warnings of not to be staring at the Sun directly at that time without any sunglasses and all...as if it is pretty fine to be doing it at other times.

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across the surface of the Earth, while a partial solar eclipse will be visible over a region thousands of kilometres wide.

The path of the Moon's shadow during this time began in the Atlantic Ocean and, before noon, was traversing the southern United Kingdom, northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg, southern Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and northern Serbia (Vojvodina). Its maximum was in Romania (next to a town called Ocnele Mari near Râmnicu Vâlcea); and it continued across Bulgaria, the Black Sea, Turkey, Iran, southern Pakistan and Srikakulam in India and ended in the Bay of Bengal. It was the first total eclipse visible from Europe since 22 July 1990, and the first visible in the United Kingdom since 29 June 1927.

Due to the high population densities in areas of the path, this one is considered as one of the most-viewed total solar eclipse in human history; although some areas in the path of totality (mainly in Western Europe) offered impaired visibility due to adverse weather conditions.

So if you have an experience to share with this or some other Solar eclipse you have witnessed, please do so in the comments section...would be an interesting read :)

Click on the link below and see what others have shared today!

Sunday Stamps