New Eid Stamp
The United States Post Office issued a stamp on September 1, 2001 that is a new addition to the Holiday Celebrations series of stamps. Joining the list that includes Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Cinco de Mayo and Thanksgiving, is the new Eid stamp.
The EID stamp was reissued by the USPS in October 2002 at the newer 37-cent first class rate, and the USPS says they plan to reissue the EID stamp again in a 39-cent denomination on October 6, 2006.
Eid means “festival.” Besides Eid-ul-Fitr, Muslims also celebrate Eid al-Adha. The new stamp commemorates these two important festivals in the Islamic calendar.
The stamp features gold, Arabic calligraphy (beautiful handwriting) on a blue background. The calligraphy translates to Eid mubarak or “blessed festival”. The English words on the stamp say EID GREETINGS in silver letters.
The original artwork for this stamp took over a year to create. Then the stamp design was approved and the decision to issue the stamp was announced by the Post Office in November of 2000. The stamp was issued to the general public on September 1st 2001, 10 months later! You can see it takes a long time for a stamp to be made. If you would like to know more about how stamp subjects and art are selected, how stamps are made, or what new designs will be coming out, you can visit the U.S. Postal Service web site at www.usps.com.
