Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Travel in the North - Gold panning & White Water Rafting 24.3.1983

Norden stamps are a common issue amongst Nordic countries. It is as old as the Europa stamps. The idea of a Norden issue with a common motif was bred by Foreningen Norden [the Norden Association] in 1951. At the conference of the Nordic Postal Association in March the same year the consensus was to accede to the idea, but for  practical reasons it could only be accomplished later. In 1980 it was decided to issue Norden stamps every three years and (as the Europa stamps since 1974) to follow a common theme instead having a common design.

The inscriptions on the cover namely, Matkaile Pohjolassa and the same in Swedish "Res i Norden" meansTravel in the North (the theme for the year 1983).  
Gold panning (the stamp on the left) is very popular in Lapland's rivers. And gold is found there. European Goldpanning Championships 2012 were held in Finland. The postmark on the stamps read "Kultaperinne elää" in English it would mean "Gold tradition lives".
Rafting or white water rafting is a challenging recreational outdoor activity using an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on white water or different degrees of rough water, in order to thrill and excite the raft passengers. The development of this activity as a leisure sport has become popular since the mid-1970s. It is considered an extreme sport, as it can be dangerous. The stamp on the right depicts this sport being enjoyed by enthusiasts on the Kitkanjoki River.
Kitkanjoki is a river of Finland. It begins from the lake Ala-Kitka that is connected to the lake Yli-Kitka in the municipalities of Posio and Kuusamo in the province of Northern Ostrobothnia and flows then towards Russia joining the river Oulankajoki near the Russian border. It is a part of the Kovda River system in Russia and Finland from which the waters flow to the White Sea.

Thank you Merja for this interesting and pretty FDC.

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