Thursday Postcard Hunt | Giants

Processional giants are costumed figures in European folklore, particularly present in Belgian, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and English folkloric processions. The main feature of these figures is typically their wooden, papier maché or -more recently- synthetic resin head, whilst bodies are covered in clothing matching the costume's theme.

Several such processions are recognised by UNESCO as forms of intangible cultural heritage, including Belgian and French processional giants listed as Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity and Catalonia's Patum de Berga.

On this postcard sent by Imma (PC), you can see the giants of Olot, existing from the 15th century (the current giants are from the 19th century).

This week's theme in Thursday Postcard Hunt is UNESCO. Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Women on Postcards | E Is for Enxaneta

A castell (literally "castle") is a human pyramid built traditionally at festivals in southern Catalonia, now also found in the rest of Catalonia, and in the Balearic Islands. At these festivals, several colles castelleres (teams that build towers) attempt to build and then dismantle a tower's structure. On 16 November 2010, castells were declared by UNESCO to be amongst the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity

The enxaneta is the casteller who crowns the human structures. Generally, the enxaneta is a boy or girl, between 5 and 10 years old.

The assembly is complete once all castellers have climbed into their designated places, and the enxaneta climbs into place at the top and raises one open hand. The enxaneta then climbs down the other side of the castell, after which the remaining levels of castellers descend in highest to lowest order until all have reached safety.

[Women on Postcards - 2026]

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Big Catholic Churches

Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família

(Under construcion)

Barcelona, PC

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Holy Assumption
Valladolid, Spain

Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar
Zaragoza, Spain

Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady
Guadalajara, Mexico

Postcards sent by Imma (PC), Bruno (Spain) and Bryon (United Nations).

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
July theme: ARCHITECTURE

• Week 1 - Churches
• Week 2 - Houses
• Week 3 - Palaces
• Week 4 - Stations
• Week 5 - Shelters

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Thursday Postcard Hunt | O Polbo

Postcard sent by Pedro (Spain), during a recent trip to A Coruña. 

O Polbo (='The Octopus')  is a work by Javier M. Padín Martínez. It was inaugurated along with other sculptures on the A Coruña seafront in 2004. This statue is made of reinforced concrete and covered with small, colorful ceramic pieces that change hue depending on the sunlight. It measures 2 meters high by 3 meters wide.

On the background you can see the most famous landmark of this city: the Tower of Hercules,  the oldest known extant Roman lighthouse. It also appears on the pictorial postmark:

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
June theme: SHAPES

• Week 1 - Letters
• Week 2 - Curves
• Week 3 - Lines
• Week 4 - Irregular/Wavy

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Sunday Stamps | M is for Megalith

The UNPA (United Nations Postal Administratio) has a tradition of issuing stamps that celebrate UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which are recognized for their outstanding cultural, historical, and natural significance. 

In 2024, they issued six stamps featuring Korean sites. Bryon sent me one of them, dedicated to the Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa Dolmen Sites.

This is my M-stamp for this week's Sunday Stamps.

Christmas stamps

Christmas stamps I received along 2025*:

Canada

1984. Snow in Bethlehem, by David Milne

1985. Santa Claus Parade

2023. Designed by Jocelyne Saulnier

Czech Republic

2020. Illustration by Josep Lada

Denmark

This stamp features Christiansfeld and belongs to the series about UNESCO WHS in Denmark (2020). But any stamp become a Christmas stamp when you apply a festive postmark on it, doesn't it?

France

1966. Georges de La Tour (1593-1652), Le nouveau-né (='The new born').

(Not issued, but sent, as Christmas stamps)

2013. Les Petits Bonheurs: Bienveillance (='Little Joys: Kindness')

2021. Ensemble, fêtons un Noël qui fait du bien

(='Let's celebrate a feel-good Christmas together)

Spain

2024. Tradition of cans dragging by children, Algeciras

United Kingdom

2001. Christmas Skating on Bird Bath (Designed by A. Robins and H. Brown)

2020. Window of St Andrew’s Church, Coln Rogers, Gloucestershire

United States of America

1967. (First stamp issued by USPS to feature the Madonna and Child)

2014. Christmas Magi

2020. Our Lady of Guapulo, 18th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

2024. Label

2014. Christmas Magi

2016. Nativity Scene

2020. Our Lady of Guapulo, 18th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

2018. Global: Poinsettia

2022. Snowy Beauty: Winterberry

2023. Snow Globes

2024. Holiday Joy

2024. Madonna and Child by Sassoferrato

2024. Holiday Joy

2024. Winter Whimsy

2025. Holiday Cheer

(Faint, but I got one of the new Christmas tree pictorial postmarks!)

*Some of them are the same than in previous years. But I keep going these again and again and, certainly... I do not mind!

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Eivissa

I rarely receive postcards from my own country. However, this month I received some from the island of Eivissa. It has been years since I last visited it, and these postcards make me dream!

Eivissa, port

Vila d'Eivissa

Es Vedrà

Portinatx

Punta Moscarter Lighthouse

Punta Moscarter Lighthouse

Cala Benirràs

Cala de Sant Vicent

Santa Eulària des Riu

Santa Eulària des Riu

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
July theme: TRAVEL

• Week 1 - Your Own Country
• Week 2 - A place you'd like to visit (but haven't)
• Week 3 - A place you would not like to visit (for whatever reason)
• Week 4 - Getting around (train, bus, plane, stations, airports)
• Week 5 - Your happy place (beach, mountains, parks, cities, islands...)

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Which One Would You Send?

Featuring the old town (Dalt Vila) of Eivissa (or Ibiza, as foreigners say) in the daylight and at night. I am glad I have got both!

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Geological

Cova Sant Marçà, in Eivissa Island. 

And also...not exactly a detail, but a curious geological formation anyway!

Mont Sainte-Odile is a 764-metre-high peak in the Vosges Mountains in Alsace in France. The mountain is named after Saint Odile. It has a nunnery at its top called the Hohenburg Abbey,

The stamp was issued in December 2024. Odile, officially the patron saint of the region since 1946, was the daughter of Duke Adalric and his wife, Ereswinde. The oldest account of her life dates from the 10th century, but she was born in the Merovingian era, around 662. Hoping for a male heir, her father denies the child who, moreover, suffers from blindness. Saved from death by her mother, she was sent to grow up far away in an abbey where Saint Erhard, Irish missionary bishop in Bavaria, following a vision that ordered her to go baptize a young blind girl, made her recover her sight and named her Odile (Daughter of light). Returning to Alsace, with the help of her repented father, she created several religious establishments to welcome the sick and the needy, and died in 720.

Sent by Fabienne (France).

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
June theme: DETAILS

• Week 1 - Architectural
• Week 2 - Geological
• Week 3 - Faces
• Week 4 - Tchotchkes, or touristy items

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!