Finland - Festival of Sport - Suomen Suurkisat

Here we have two covers, both featuring rather striking sports stamps, that were issued to commemorate national sport festivals held in Finland. Known as Suomen Suurkisat, which loosely translates as The Finnish Games, the first one was held in 1947 and was organised by the Finnish National Sports Federation as part of the Finnish re-building effort at the end of World War II.

The cachet on the cover below is the official logo of the games and shows a javelin thrower. The words Finlands Festspel are Swedish that translate to Finnish Festival. The postmark mirrors the logo and is dated 29/06/47 which was the opening day of the Games. Helsingfors is the Swedish name for Helsinki.

This cover is from the 1956 Festival and the cachet is again bi-lingual in both Finnish and Swedish. The illustration depicts the tower from the Helsinki Olympic Stadium as well as male and female gymnasts. Again a stamp was issued to commmemorate the games and shows gymnasts, a javelin thrower and a footballer.

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