The Postal Service marked the start of the Lunar New Year Jan. 5 by dedicating its Year of the Rooster stamp in Seattle.
The Lunar New Year, the most important holiday of the year for many Asian communities, is observed primarily by people of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan and Mongolian heritage.
The event is often celebrated with parades featuring enormous and vibrantly painted papier-mâché dragons, parties and other special events.
“Today’s event is important, not only because it’s our first stamp dedication of the new calendar year, but also because it gives the Postal Service a chance to reinforce our commitment to celebrate America’s great diversity through our stamps,” said Western Area VP Greg Graves, who spoke at the dedication.
USPS is issuing the Year of the Rooster stamp in souvenir sheets of 12.
Year of the Rooster is the 10th of 12 stamps in the current Celebrating Lunar New Year series, which was introduced in 2008.
The series will continue through 2019 with stamps for Year of the Dog and Year of the Boar.
The stamps are available at Post Offices and usps.com. The Jan. 5 news release has more information.
