Postal Service releases holiday stamps for 2007

Season’s greetings

Many stores and shops are already gearing up for the upcoming holiday, and Post Offices across Indiana are no exception. According to a spokesman for the Greater Indiana District of the U.S. Postal Service, Post Offices within the state now have the entire portfolio of stamps available for 2007 holiday season.

The four Holiday Knits Commemorative stamps feature classic wintertime imagery. The images consist of a dignified stag, a snow-dappled evergreen tree, a perky snowman sporting a top hat and a whimsical teddy bear. The four stamps were designed and machine-knitted by New York-based illustrator Nancy Stahl, who has previously designed several other stamps for the Postal Service. Inspired by traditional Norwegian sweaters and knitted Christmas stockings, Stahl said she decided on “something cozy” for this year’s holiday stamp issuance. Stahl used computer software to draw her original designs and convert them to stitches and rows, which she downloaded to an electronic knitting machine.

Madonna of the Carnation Renaissance painter Bernardino Luini’s painting “The Madonna of the Carnation” is featured on the 2007 Christmas stamp. Formerly known as holiday traditional stamps, the Christmas stamps adorn millions of letters, greeting cards and packages each year. Since 1978, the theme of these stamps has been the Madonna and Child, and the stamps have attracted a devoted following over the years. The 2007 design features Luini’s oil-on-panel which dates to around 1515. It is now part of the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The stamp art is a detail of the work, as the image was slightly cropped on all four sides to fit the stamp format.

The Hanukkah and Kwanzaa stamps, with the same designs as the 2006 versions, commemorate the holiday festivals of the Jewish and African-American communities. The Hanukkah stamp features a photograph of a dreidel and the word "Hanukkah." This stamp design was previously issued with a 39-cent denomination in 2006. The Kwanzaa stamp commemorates the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa, which celebrates the seven principles of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

Eid The Eid stamp, first issued in 2001, commemorates the two most important festivals in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan with prayers, feasting, exchanging gifts, and visiting family and friends. Signifying “The Feast of Sacrifice,” Eid al-Adha occurs approximately two months and ten days after Eid al-Fitr. Eid al-Adha comes at the end of the hajjae, the annual period of pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca and commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail. The stamp was developed with the help of Muslim consultants and experts in Islamic studies.

NOTE TO EDITORS: To obtain a 300 dpi image of the stamp, visit http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2007stamps/downloadcenter.htm..

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.