Greetings stamps 2010 - the stamp for your special occasion

Greetings 2010 Stamp

28/01/2010

When you think about sending greetings, birthdays are probably the first thing to spring to mind.  After all, we all have them – and every day is somebody’s birthday!  For birthdays or any type of greeting cards or invitations, An Post’s Greeting stamps 2010 will add an extra touch of celebration.

Cards apart, another favourite way to celebrate a Happy Birthday is a great big birthday cake!  But who made the first birthday cake?  And who was the first person to blow out their birthday candles?

Historians differ on the origins of the cake as a birthday celebration.  Some say it started with the Romans, while others favour the Greeks as the creators of this tradition.  Another has the birthday cake coming from Germany in the Middle Ages.

There are similarly divided opinions on how candles came to appear on the top of the cake.  Again, the favourite candidates for the starting place are Ancient Greece and Germany.  Kinderfest was an 18th century birthday celebration for German children that featured candles burning on a cake.

When the song ‘Happy Birthday To You’ caught the world’s imagination in the early years of the 20th century, a new tradition arose and the words ‘Happy Birthday’ began to appear on cakes.

Original cartoon illustrations by Roger OReilly grace this year’s Greetings stamps.  Featuring a boy and a girl zooming through outer space, these bright, colourful stamps come in self-adhesive format, in booklets of 10.  With typography and layout by Steve Simpson, they're superb for birthdays and many other occasions.

The stamps are available from main Post Offices, through our online shop or from the GPO Philatelic Shop, Dublin 1.

 

Products available with this issue:

• Greetings 2010 Self-adhesive Pair (1003SAS)  €1.10
• Greetings 2010 Self-adhesive Booklet (1003GBK) €5.50
• Greetings 2010 FDC (1003FDC)    €2.10

Orders and/or enquiries relating to this release or indeed any aspect of the Philatelic Business should be sent to:

Mail: Philatelic Bureau, Order Department P.O. Box 1991, G.P.O., Dublin 1, Ireland.
Telephone:  00 353 1 705 7400
Fax:   00 353 1 705 7289
Internet:    www.irishstamps.ie 

 

 

 

                 

 

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