Stamps are a window to a country's soul. They are my favorite snapshots into its psyche- the serious, the whimsical, the historic, the sporty, the mysterious, the business side of a nation- all can be captured, one image at a time in a 2-cm by 2-cm frame.
As we celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of our national hero, Dr Jose Rizal, I hauled out of its 15-year hiding place these stamps which commemorated the centennial of his martyrdom in 1996. These series of stamps contain vistas of his life, including: his portraits from childhood to adulthood; the places he visited, including his home-away-from-home in Heidelburg, Germany; his many eclectic loves, including sculpture, and; most importantly, his masterpieces- Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, both of which stoked the embers of a fledgling nation's desire for independence, which resulted to a conflagration of a revolution that paved the way for our freedom, albeit short-lived, but no less significant in the eyes of our citizens, of Asia, and the world.
Stamps are my favorite souvenirs to take home whenever I travel to a country outside my own. However, revisiting my Philippine collection is also a worthwhile journey to take, if only to rediscover how truly blessed I am to emerge from a lineage of heroes, how blessed I am to be Filipino.
June 2011, using a digicam.
we have almost the same entry. i like stamps too and i collect them. hmmm got to check to my collections as to what happened to them :)
ReplyDeletehappy weekend
Yes, you sure can learn a good deal about a country by looking at the stamps that they publish! Great capture for this week's theme.
ReplyDeleteStamps are a great way to broaden one's world. I don't collect now but they certainly helped open my eyes when I was a child
ReplyDeletei collected stamps for more than 2 decades. it was painful to let go. it made learning fun when i was a kid.
ReplyDelete