United States Air Force Thunderbirds

The USAF Thunderbirds is the air demonstration squadron of the United States Air Force (USAF), based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

The squadron performs aerobatic formation and solo flying with in various airshows and events using F-16 Fighting Falcons. The name of "Thunderbirds" was from a legendary creature in the mythology of several indigenous North American cultures, as one of their maneuvers on November 11, 2012 shown on the postcard. You can purchase the matching customized stamps from Zazzle.

Update on November 9, 2014 with a Youtube video from the 2014 Aviation Nation.

International Women's Day

According to Wikepedia, "International Women's Day (IWD), also called International Working Women's Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political, and social achievements."

We are presenting postcard US-1923857 to Ukraine in commemorating International Women's Day by celebrating Native American women. The postcard features an Anasazi Indian woman, who belong to one of the Ancient Pueblo peoples centered on the present-day Four Corners area bordering southern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. As shown on the background of the postcard, they lived in elevated pit houses, pueblos, and cliff dwellings where they could lift entry ladders during enemy attacks.

A Crow Lodge with Decorations

Postcard US-2424315 is going out to Germany today, showing Native American lodges photographed in 1907-1908 by Norman A. Forsyth. A lodge, or a large tipi, was formed of support poles covered with an average of 12 to 14 buffalo hides. By the 1870s, canvas had replaced the hides for tipi-making among some Plains Indian tribes.

According to Wikipedia, "the Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their equestrian culture and resistance to domination by Canada and the United States have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature art for American Indians everywhere."

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Postcard NZ-91131 from New Zealand, showing a Maori carving, arrived on September 13, 2013, the 6th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations General Assembly during its 61st session in New York City in 2007.

According to Wikipedia, the purpose of the Declaration is to "set out the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues". It also "emphasizes the rights of indigenous peoples to maintain and strengthen their own institutions, cultures and traditions, and to pursue their development in keeping with their own needs and aspirations". It "prohibits discrimination against indigenous peoples"; and it "promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them and their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic and social development". The goal of the Declaration is to encourage countries to work alongside indigenous peoples to solve global issues, like development, multicultural democracy and decentralization. There is a major emphasis that the indigenous peoples will be able to protect their cultural heritage and other aspects of their culture and tradition.

New Zealand, along with Australia, Canada, and United States, initially voted against the Declaration. All four countries have since endorsed the Declaration. New Zealand's endorsement came on April 19, 2010,

On the postcard, it noted "Traditional Maori carving designs feature human or near-human figures, with the spiral also an important element."