Religious theme for Christmas stamps

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 06 Nov 2007, 07:44

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticN ... 8520071106

LONDON (Reuters) - The Royal Mail has unveiled this year's Christmas stamps, which take a religious theme.

The eight special stamps depict angels and the Madonna and child, and go on sale on Tuesday.

The Royal Mail alternates annually between secular and religious images on its Christmas stamps, but came in for criticism last year for a lack of Christian illustrations.

Religious groups said the 2006 stamps -- depicting Santa, a snowman, a Christmas tree and reindeer -- took the "Christ out of Christmas".

Head of special stamps Julietta Edgar said of the 2007 versions: "This year's special stamps are particularly beautiful and will adorn millions of the items we handle."

Royal Mail will handle an estimated two billion letters and cards during the festive period. It expects Monday December 17 to be its busiest day of the year.

Some 123 million items are expected to enter the system that day, compared to an average daily figure of 83 million.

The last recommended posting dates for British mail to reach recipients in time for Christmas are Thursday December 20 for first class postage and Tuesday December 18 for second.

Airmail items to western Europe should be posted by December 13, those to eastern Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan by December 10 and to the rest of the world by December 7.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 06 Nov 2007, 07:46

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7080301.stm

The Church of England has welcomed the Royal Mail's return to a religious theme for its 2007 Christmas stamps.

The collection of eight stamps is illustrated with pictures of angels or the Madonna and Child.

The Church was critical last year about the absence of Christian images on the stamps' designs and urged Royal Mail to use religious themes every year.

Royal Mail said it alternated between secular and religious themes and plans for 2008 were already in place.

Next year's collection is expected to feature classic pantomime characters, a Royal Mail spokesman said.

"Royal Mail alternates annually between secular and religious Christmas stamps.

"Last year featured a series of winter wonderland images, so this year features angels and the Madonna and Child."

Christina Baxter, chairwoman of the House of Laity of the Church of England's General Synod, said of the Madonna and Child image on a first-class stamp: "I very much welcome an explicitly Christian theme for that particular stamp.

"Although the others are not to my personal taste, I nevertheless welcome stamps that carry values that are explicitly Christian, and I hope they will produce Christian stamps next year too at Christmas."

The Church has argued that Christian-themed designs "remind people of the true meaning of Christmas".

The first edition of Royal Mail Christmas stamps was launched in 1966 with the design chosen from more than 5,000 entries in a competition for schoolchildren.

Two billion letters are expected to be sent over the festive period, and 17 December is expected to be the busiest day of the year, with a predicted 123m items passing through the postal system.

Royal Mail's last recommended posting dates for UK mail are 18 December for second-class items, 20 December for first class and 21 December for special delivery items.

For airmail items to Western Europe, the last recommended posting date is 13 December, for Eastern Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan it is 10 December, and for the rest of the world the deadline is 7 December.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 06 Nov 2007, 07:54

1st Class â€“ The Angel of Goodwill
Definitive sized designs, available in large letter format, these stamps depict a seated Angel of Goodwill playing a lute, set against a snowy backdrop with winter foliage.

2nd Class â€“ The Angel of Peace
Definitive sized designs, available in large letter format, these stamps feature the Angel of Peace playing a trumpet, set against a wintry, festive landscape.

78p â€“ The Angel of Joy
In standard definitive size, the Angel of Joy stamp features a winged heavenly messenger playing the flute in a traditional Christmas setting.

Â£1.24 â€“ The Angel of Glory
In standard definitive size, this stamp features Marco Venturaâ€™s illustration of the Angel of Glory with wings outstretched. The angel is shown playing a tambourine amidst falling snow.

1st Class â€“ Madonna and Child by Lippo di Dalmasio
In standard definitive size, this First Class stamp is a cropped reproduction of the original Lippo di Dalmasio painting that is believed to have been painted between 1390 and 1400.

2nd Class â€“ Madonna and Child by William Dyce
This standard definitive size stamp depicts Dyceâ€™s highly individual Madonna and Child. It is believed to have been modelled on Raphael's 'Madonna and Child' subjects of the early 1500s. Through this sort of painting, Dyce emerged as a precursor of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Post by **plodsie** » 07 Nov 2007, 03:18

I find them all offensive and want them withdrawn!

IWW Fellow Worker · Post by **IWW Fellow Worker** » 07 Nov 2007, 16:46

plodsie wrote:I find them all offensive and want them withdrawn!

I'm not one for graven images either mate, but each to their own.

Post by **dvbuk55** » 07 Nov 2007, 16:57

IWW Fellow Worker wrote:
plodsie wrote:I find them all offensive and want them withdrawn!

I'm not one for graven images either mate, but each to their own.

Nor the likeness of anything that is in the heavens above nor in the earth beneath!

IWW Fellow Worker · Post by **IWW Fellow Worker** » 07 Nov 2007, 17:01

dvbuk55 wrote:
IWW Fellow Worker wrote:
plodsie wrote:I find them all offensive and want them withdrawn!

I'm not one for graven images either mate, but each to their own.
Nor the likeness of anything that is in the heavens above nor in the earth beneath!

Quite so!

Post by **plodsie** » 07 Nov 2007, 22:02

Any reason why the Queen's head faces the other way on the last stamp?

Throgg · Post by **Throgg** » 07 Nov 2007, 22:21

Being a religion hating atheist, i would normally agree with Plodsie, but, i think there might be a hidden message here. According to the christians, wasn't it somebody called Adam and his partner who f****d it up for all humanity?

removed first expletive as it was abusive and may have caused offence Moderator

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 07 Nov 2007, 22:59

Throgg wrote:Being a religion hating atheist, i would normally agree with Plodsie, but, i think there might be a hidden message here. According to the christians, wasn't it somebody called Adam and his partner who f****d it up for all humanity?

removed first expletive as it was abusive and may have caused offence Moderator

Can atheists be religion hating - I mean how can they hate something they don't believe in.

http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismathe ... ligion.htm

BELIAL · Post by **BELIAL** » 07 Nov 2007, 23:04

Think they could do E. Munch,s the scream for DSA mail

L Tommo · Post by **L Tommo** » 08 Nov 2007, 00:10

Now i dont want no fricking stamps....

And these will be more like the ones we and the public will get if we dont get the NO VOTE we need..

1st Class â€“ The Angel of coming in before work time.... ie goodwill...
Definitive sized designs, available in large letter format, these stamps depict a seated Angel of Goodwill playing a lute, set against a snowy backdrop with winter foliage.

2nd Class â€“ The Angel of NO peace..
Definitive sized designs, available in large letter format, these stamps feature the Angel of Peace playing a trumpet, set against a wintry, festive landscape. Doing D2D's for nothing...

78p â€“ The Angel of screws
In standard definitive size, the Angel of doom stamp features a winged heavenly manager playing the flute in a traditional Christmas setting.
To get the workers back into work so they can finish there FLEXIBLE HOURS...

STICK YA FECKING STAMPS RIGHT UP YA FECKING JACKSIE!!!

Angel of goodwill.. They taking the piss!!!!

Post by **Lounge Lizard** » 08 Nov 2007, 05:45

plodsie wrote:Any reason why the Queen's head faces the other way on the last stamp?

She always faces towards, not away from, the design and the space on the last one is on the left not right.

ROYALMAILCHAT

Religious theme for Christmas stamps

Religious theme for Christmas stamps

Church welcomes religious stamps

GERTCHA TO THE STAMPS OF DOOM!!!