Celebrating Lunar New Year

Bright pink peach blossoms highlight the 2019 Year of the Boar stamp, the 12th and final stamp in the U.S. Postal Service’s Celebrating Lunar New Year series. The Year of the Boar begins February 5, 2019, and ends January 24, 2020.

The First-Day-Of-Issue FDOI) dedication ceremony will take place January 17, 2019 at the Chinese Community Center in Houston, TX.

Around the world, millions of people welcome a new year with gifts, music and celebration. The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival in China and Tet in Vietnam, is the most important holiday of the year for many Asian communities.

The stamp design features original artwork by Kam Mak with elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps — Clarence Lee’s intricate cut-paper design of a boar and the Chinese character for “boar” drawn in grass-style calligraphy by Lau Bun. Ethel Kessler was the art director for this stamp.

 

In China, peach trees typically bloom in early February, just in time for the new year. The striking pink blossoms mark the beginning of spring in Chinese culture.