The US Postal Service (USPS) has unveiled a brand new stamp design honouring Kwanzaa, a Pan-African American vacation noticed yearly from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.
The ceremony, organised in partnership with the Affiliation for the Examine of African American Life and Historical past (ASALH), occurred on the Heinz Historical past Middle in Pittsburgh.
Roderick Sallay, USPS Director of Legislative Coverage and Technique Improvement, stated, “The Postal Service’s aim is to create stamps that resonate with individuals from all walks of life.”
He added, “The issuance of this Kwanzaa stamp is a robust image of the enduring rules of the vacation. It recognises Kwanzaa’s capability to encourage and unite individuals by way of its emphasis on neighborhood, self-determination and collective accountability. By inserting these values on a stamp, we affirm their common relevance and their potential to counterpoint our day by day lives.”
Becoming a member of Sallay for the ceremony have been grasp of ceremonies Jourdan Hicks, a neighborhood correspondent and neighborhood educator; William M. Dulaney, ASALH President; Ekua Holmes, the stamp artist; Sala Udin, a neighborhood organiser; Anyah Nancy, vocalist; and the Balafon West African Dance Ensemble.
New USPS Commemorative Stamp Pays Tribute to The Seven Ideas of Kwanzaa
“The Affiliation for the Examine of African American Life and Historical past commends the USA Postal Service for its recognition of the intense cultural significance of Kwanzaa and its seven foundational rules,” stated Dulaney. “By its issuance of a vacation stamp that honours Pan-African household and tradition, the USPS affirms its perception that variety is America’s power, and thereby invitations all People to have fun with us in late December.”
Every year, thousands and thousands of African People collect with family and friends all through the week of Kwanzaa to honour the Pan-African vacation’s seven founding rules — unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work and accountability (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), function (nia), creativity (kuumba) and religion (imani).
Kwanzaa is a festive time for rejoicing within the prospect of well being, prosperity and good luck within the coming 12 months. Furthermore, it’s a time for considering and recollecting previous hardships people and communities confronted and the way historical past can inform and have an effect on future happiness.
With origins in historical and fashionable first-harvest festivities occurring throughout the African continent, Kwanzaa incorporates and reimagines many communal traditions as a recent celebration and reaffirmation of African American tradition.
The Postal Service’s tenth Kwanzaa stamp since 1997 was impressed by a reside efficiency by dancers from OrigiNation Cultural Arts Middle, witnessed by artist Ekua Holmes, throughout a Kwanzaa occasion in Roxbury, MA.
Uncover the Fantastic thing about Kwanzaa on New USPS Stamp
The stamp depicts three younger performers — a male drummer and behind and to both facet of him, two feminine dancers. He wears a darkish blue, inexperienced, and orange kufi; a white shirt, and pants with a geometrical black and white mud cloth-like sample. His djembe — blue with a white drumhead — hangs from his neck by a purple strap. The 2 dancers put on orange attire and gold jewelry.
One has a purple hair band, and all three figures have silhouetted black pores and skin and hair. The ground beneath their ft is diamond-patterned in shades of inexperienced, whereas the background options triangles in shades of purple. Every dancer extends a knee and a little bit of orange skirt past the picture body into the white margin of the stamp.
The composition highlights the colors of the Pan-African flag — black, purple, and inexperienced and West African designs on the ground, background and the drummer’s pants.
Ethel Kessler, an artwork director for USPS, designed the stamp with authentic art work by Holmes.
The Kwanzaa stamp is being issued as a Endlessly stamp in panes of 20. These Endlessly stamps will at all times be of equal worth to the present First-Class Mail 1-ounce value. Information of the Kwanzaa stamps is being shared with the hashtag #KwanzaaStamps.
Postal Merchandise
Clients might buy stamps and different philatelic merchandise by way of the Postal Retailer at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail by way of USA Philatelic or at Submit Workplace areas nationwide. Store the USPS Formally Licensed Assortment on Amazon for formally licensed stamp merchandise. Further data on stamps, First Day of Problem Ceremonies and stamp impressed merchandise could be discovered at StampsForever.com. For extra details about the Postal Service, go to usps.com and information.usps.com.
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