The Postal Service released its Year of the Dog stamp Jan. 11. The stamp is the 11th entry in the Celebrating Lunar New Year series.
The Lunar New Year, the most important holiday of the year for many Asian communities around the world, is celebrated primarily by people of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan and Mongolian heritage.
The Year of the Dog stamp illustration depicts an arrangement of “lucky” bamboo.
On the right of the stamp is lozenge-shaped red paper with the Chinese character fu, meaning good fortune, rendered in calligraphy — a common decoration on doors and entryways during Lunar New Year festivities.
Art Director Ethel Kessler worked on the stamp series with illustrator Kam Mak, a Hong Kong-born artist who grew up in New York City’s Chinatown.
The dog is the 11th of 12 zodiac animal signs associated with the Chinese lunar calendar. The Year of the Dog begins Feb. 16.
USPS is issuing the Year of the Dog stamp in souvenir sheets of 12. The stamps are available at Post Offices and usps.com.