The Scarlet Sails (Alye parusa in russian) is the most famous public event during the White Nights Festival, in Saint Petersburg, and takes place in June, on the end of school year. It is highly popular for its spectacular fireworks, numerous music concerts, and a massive water show including battles between dozens of boats full of pirates on the waters of the Neva river. The culmination of the Festival is the entry of two Brigantines with scarlet sails in the Neva River accompanied by music and fireworks.
This tradition began after the end of WWII, when several Leningrad schools united to celebrate the end of the school year, in connection with the symbolism of the popular 1922 children's book Scarlet Sails by Alexander Grin. During the first celebration, a boat with scarlet sails sailed along the English Embankment and the Admiralty Embankment towards the Winter Palace. The popularity of this tradition was boosted after the 1961 release of the film Scarlet Sails, the event evolving into a massive demonstration of freedom.
The stamps are the bear, the moose and the rabbit in the series about animals, about which I wrote here.
References
Scarlet Sails (tradition) - Wikipedia
Sender: Liza16Liz (postcrossing)
sent from Saint Petersburg (Russia), on 25.05.2012
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