America Postal Service is prepared for the vacation season.
In the present day in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the USPS unveiled the design for its tenth Kwanzaa stamp, which honors the Pan-African American vacation celebrated from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 yearly.
Kwanzaa originates from historic and trendy first-harvest celebrations occurring throughout the African continent, and continues to tell and affirm the modern cultures of African People.
“The Postal Service’s objective is to create stamps that resonate with individuals from all walks of life,” mentioned Roderick Sallay, USPS director of legislative coverage and technique improvement.
“The issuance of this Kwanzaa stamp is a strong image of the enduring rules of the vacation. It acknowledges Kwanzaa’s skill to encourage and unite individuals by its emphasis on neighborhood, self-determination and collective accountability. By putting these values on a stamp, we affirm their common relevance and their potential to counterpoint our each day lives.”
Throughout Kwanzaa yearly, tens of millions of African People collect with family members to honor the vacation’s seven founding rules: Unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work and accountability (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), objective (nia), creativity (kuumba), and religion (imani).
Partaking in long-held cultural traditions, those that have a good time Kwanzaa typically see it as a time to rejoice in well being, prosperity, and good luck within the coming yr. It additionally makes house to ponder previous hardships and all of the methods historical past can inform and impression the long run.
And this yr’s stamp — the tenth Kwanzaa stamp issued by the USPS since 1997 — is only one small method so as to add to that celebration.
The stamp was devoted at a ceremony in the present day on the Heinz Historical past Middle in Pittsburgh, in partnership with the Affiliation for the Examine of African American Life and Historical past.
“The Affiliation for the Examine of African American Life and Historical past commends the US Postal Service for its recognition of the acute cultural significance of Kwanzaa and its seven foundational rules,” mentioned William M. Dulaney, the president of ASALH, on the ceremony.
“By its issuance of a vacation stamp that honors Pan-African household and tradition, the USPS affirms its perception that range is America’s power, and thereby invitations all People to have a good time with us in late December.”
The ceremony additionally included the reveal of the stamp’s design, which options authentic paintings by Ekua Holmes.
Holmes was impressed by a stay dance efficiency that she witnessed at a Kwanzaa occasion on the OrigiNation Cultural Arts Middle. The stamp depicts three younger performers who put on culturally important clothes, together with a colourful kufi and geometric pants with a cloth-like sample.
The drummer, who takes middle stage within the design, additionally performs a djembe drum, as two dancers complement the body.
“The composition highlights the colours of the Pan-African flag — black, pink, and inexperienced,” a press launch from the USPS describes, “and West African designs on the ground, background, and the drummer’s pants.”
The Kwanzaa stamps are issued as a pane of 20 Eternally stamps and are actually out there for buy on-line, through mail, or at USPS areas nationwide for $14.60.
Header picture courtesy of Askar Abayev/Pexels
