United States Postal Service has unveiled a new stamp design honouring Kwanzaa, a Pan-African American holiday observed annually from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.
“The Postal Service’s goal is to create stamps that resonate with people from all walks of life,” said Roderick Sallay, USPS director of legislative policy and strategy development. “The issuance of this Kwanzaa stamp is a powerful symbol of the enduring principles of the holiday. It recognizes Kwanzaa’s ability to inspire and unite people through its emphasis on community, self-determination, and collective responsibility. By placing these values on a stamp, we affirm their universal relevance and their potential to enrich our daily lives.”
Each year, millions of African Americans gather with friends and family throughout the week of Kwanzaa to honour the holiday’s seven founding principles — unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work and responsibility (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba), and faith (imani).
Kwanzaa is a festive time for rejoicing in the prospect of health, prosperity, and good luck in the coming year. It is also a time for contemplation and recollection of past hardships faced by both individuals and communities, and the ways in which history can inform and affect future happiness.
With origins in ancient and modern first-harvest festivities occurring across the African continent, Kwanzaa incorporates and reimagines many communal traditions as a contemporary celebration and reaffirmation of African American culture.
The Postal Service’s 10th Kwanzaa stamp since 1997 was inspired by a live performance by dancers from OrigiNation Cultural Arts Centre, witnessed by artist Ekua Holmes during a Kwanzaa event in Roxbury, Mass. The stamp depicts three young performers — a male drummer, and behind and to either side of him, two female dancers. He wears a dark blue, green, and orange kufi, a white shirt, and pants with a geometric black-and-white mud cloth-like pattern. His djembe — blue with a white drumhead — hangs from his neck by a red strap. The two dancers wear orange dresses and gold jewellery. One has a red hair band, and all three figures have silhouetted black skin and hair. The floor beneath their feet is diamond-patterned in shades of green, while the background features triangles in shades of red. Each dancer extends a knee and a bit of orange skirt beyond the image frame, into the white margin of the stamp.
The composition highlights the colours of the Pan-African flag — black, red, and green — and West African designs on the floor, background, and the drummer’s pants. Ethel Kessler, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp with original artwork by Holmes.
The Kwanzaa stamp was issued as a Forever stamp in panes of 20.