Europe stamp with circus

Circus on Europe stamps

Many motif collectors will most surely be extra happy about this year's Europe stamp. The theme is "circus" and the Aland contribution depicts a circus elephant in the ring. Contrary to the rest of Finland it is allowed to bring circus elephants to Aland.

Circus started in Roman times

The circus is regarded to have started in early Roman times with its bloody spectacle, gladiators and wild animals. However, the modern circus started in Britain in the latter half of the 18th century when the British cavalryman Philip Astley decided to perform fancy riding to a crowd. Outside of London Astley roped off a field, which later developed into a ring with seats around it. To vary the show he gradually added acrobats, jugglers, rope dancers and clowns, which together with the equestrian feats still is the backbone of our modern circus today.

Rolling circus shows

In the 19th century most permanent shows were replaced by rolling circus shows. These travelled from village to village and pitched their tents on village greens. Even though many circuses today have moved into circus arenas, many shows also still travel around. One or two of these rolling shows visit Aland each summer and the interest among the local population always seems to be great. Last summer the shows got some protests from local animal rights organisations and animal friends; something which seems to have increased in most places in the last few years.