2017-01-28 Sat

New Year! New Stamps… India and Portugal together issued new commemorative stamps on 7th Jan 2017.

Though history says otherwise, India and Portugal today enjoy share warm and friendly ties. They share an excellent bilateral relationship. Hence, to Celebrate Diplomatic relations, India and Portugal has come up with a joint stamp issue featuring traditional dances of the countries.

Dandiya dance a popular traditional folk dance form of Gujarat is representing India while The Portuguese stick dance known as dança dos paulitos or Pauliteiros represents Portugal.

Dandiya is a special feature of the Navratri festival. Dandiya is a dance form usually performed in a group, by both men and women. The special feature of the Dandiya dance is the colourful attire worn by the dancers and the colourful sticks carried by them. The wooden sticks are used as a prop and are beautifully decorated.

Pauliteiros is the dance characterized by the use of two sticks. The dancers hit to the rhythm of the music played by the gaiteiros, a musical group composed bagpipe, drums, and flutes at the same time. It is performed by eight men in a specific costume, comprising of white embroidered skirts, woolen socks, decorated vests (coletes) and hats, or black trousers, white shirts, black vests and decorated hats.

There is no better way to celebrate New Year!