Isle of Man - Interceltique 2008

Isle of Man stamp issue depicting Celtic nations

On 12 May 2008, the postal administration of the Isle of Man will issue a set of eight postage stamps showing the flags of the Celtic nations, presented as follows:

"This set of stamps celebrates the links between the Isle of Man and other Celtic nations: Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, Ireland, Asturias and Galicia. Each stamp features the native language of our fellow Celts. The Europa theme for 2008 is letter writing."

The eight stamps are available in a sheet showing the following flags (the names are given as shown on the stamps, with the English equivalent placed between brackets):

• Top row, from left to right:
• 20 p: Kernow (Cornwall) - Black flag with white cross
• 30 p: Mannin (Isle of Man) - Red flag with the three-legged emblem
• 31 p: Alba (Scotland) - Blue flag with a white saltire
  
• 48 p: Breizh (Brittany) - Horizontally divided black-white, nine stripes, a white canton charged with 11 ermine spots, 4 + 3 + 4
• Bottom row, from left to right:
• 50 p: Éire (Ireland) - Vertically divided green-white-orange flag
• 56 p: Asturies (Asturias) - Light blue flag with a yellow cross trefly bearing the yellow Greek letters "alpha" and "omega"
• 72 p: Cymru (Wales) - Vertically divided white-green flag with a red dragon
• £1.13: Galicia - White flag with a blue descending diagonal stripe
  

The stamps are square. On the bottom of the each stamp is written "INTERCELTIQUE - X", "X" being the place name. There is a motto in smaller characters above, overlapping the lower part of the flag, written in the language matching the flag:

• Cornwall: "Den heb tavas a-gollas a dyr" ("A man without a language has lost his land", which should be "Den heb tavas a gollas y dyr" according to the Cornwall24 Discussion Board)
• Isle of Man: "Gyn chengey, gyn cheer" (sometimes written with "ç" instead of "c", "No language, no country", the motto of the Manx Language Society "Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh", founded in 1899)
• Scotland: "Tìr gun teanga, tìr gun anam" ("A country without language, a country without a soul")
• Brittany: "Hep brezhoneg, Breizh ebet" ("Without Breton [language], no Brittany")
• Ireland: "Tìr gan teanga, tìr gan anam" ("A country without language, a country without a soul")
• Asturias: "Un país que desanicia la so llingua pierde l'alma" ("A country that abandons its language losts its soul")
• Wales: "Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon" ("A nation without a language is a nation without a heart.")
• Galicia: "Unha terra, un povo e unha fala" ("One land, one people, one language").