The U.S. Postal Service dedicated the Celebrating Lunar New Year: Year of the Ox commemorative 12-stamp souvenir sheet today as the second in its 12-year Celebrating Lunar New Year series. The ceremony took place in New York City at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where Chinese-American stamp artist Kam Mak serves as an associate professor of illustration. All 60 million 42-cent First-Class stamps are available nationwide.

Art director Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, worked on the new series with Mak, who now lives in Brooklyn. They focused on some of the common ways the Lunar New Year Holiday is celebrated. To commemorate the Year of the Ox (Jan. 26, 2009 – Feb. 13, 2010), they chose a lion head of a type often worn at parades and other festivities. Dancers wear such heads, often made of papier-mâché and bamboo, as they perform for delighted crowds. Kam’s 16″ x 9.5″ stamp illustration was originally created using oil paints on a fiberboard panel.

The Postal Service introduced its previous Lunar New Year stamps series in 1992 was designed and illustrated by Clarence Lee of Honolulu, HI. Mak, under Kessler’s direction, is creating the second series that continues through 2019 with stamps for the years of the Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar.

Year of the Ox Stamps