Correos issued in 2018 the stamp dedicated to Origami having as protagonist the bow tie as it is the symbol of the West. In this 2022 completes its journey dedicating the stamp to the crane.
Origami is, in principle, the set of techniques that allow transforming a sheet of paper into a geometric figure or representative of some natural or artificial object. For this transformation we will only use a paper without cuts or glue, only the folding of the paper is allowed. Papiroflexia is the proper term of the peninsular Spanish language.
In the rest of the world the Japanese word is preferred, formed by the roots 'ori' (to fold) and 'kami' (paper). We say "in principle", since nowadays the concept of origami tends to include folding techniques of any material, not only paper: cloth, plastic, metal... and even new 'intelligent' materials. The origin of origami sinks in the darkness of history. We do not know the authorship of the oldest models, such as the little box of St. Agatha, the graceful bow tie or the Japanese crane ( ' t z u r u ' in Japanese), to which this stamp pays homage. This crane is an iconic model for the Japanese tradition.
In the West, the "flapping mechanical bird" variant is better known, popularized after its presentation at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889. According to an ancient Japanese Shinto legend, he who folds a thousand paper cranes obtains a favor from the gods, such as recovery from a long illness. The paper crane has become a symbol of peace from the story of the girl Sadako Sasaki of Hiroshima, who folded almost 1500 cranes to ask for the recovery of sick children, her hospital companions. At the monument erected to Sadako in the peace park of her city, schoolchildren from Japan and other parts of the world hang thousands of cranes every year to ask that children around the world not be affected by wars.
In Zaragoza, every year, on August 6th, the day of peace is celebrated, the members of the Grupo Zaragozano de Papiroflexia give cranes to the passers-by in the Plaza del Pilar, to keep this tradition alive, while inside the Basilica the Virgin wears the mantle that the Grupo Zaragozano de Papiroflexia gave her, the only paper mantle where you can see two little birds, symbol of peace in Spain.
