| New stamps featuring Dr. Seuss were released by the U.S. Postal Service on Monday, October 27.
Theodor Geisel, Springfield's most famous literary native son who's best known as Dr. Seuss, is shown a 37-cent postage stamp surrounded by illustrations of six characters from his books "The Cat in the Hat", "Oh, The Places You'll Go" and others.
US Stamp history:
For the first time, US Postal Service issued the holiday stamp of 34 cents (Scott #3532) in commemoration of the annual congress of Islamic Society of North America, conducted on September 1, 2001 in Des Plaines, Illinois. The design of the postage stamp included gold Arabian calligraphy against an azure background and symbolized two of the most important Muslim holidays: Eid ul-Fitr, (marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan) and Eid-Ul-Adha, ( the day of the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca). During these holidays, Muslims wish each other: “Eid mubarak”, which literally means “Happy Holiday!” and can also be rephrased as: “Yes, your religious holiday will be blessed”. Particularly, this sentence, belonging to both the holidays, and was arranged on the stamp, allowing use of the stamp twice in a year – during Eid-Ul-Fitr and Eid-Ul-Adha. The design of the stamp was done by Islamic calligrapher Mohammed Zakariya and repeated during the publishing of similar stamps but in increased postage value in subsequent years:
2002 - 37 cents (Scott #3674);
2006 - 39 cents (Scott #4117);
2007 - 41 cents (Scott #4202)
Jewish holidays on stamps:
Hanukkah is celebrated in the memory of Judah Maccabee’s revolt against the government Antiochus IV (165 BC). On the occasion of this holiday, the USA and Israel jointly issued a postage stamp on October 22, 1996; the stamp had a multi-colored image of Hanukkah (a special lighting fixture, in which eight candles are inserted, which is lit during the eight days of Hanukkah). The design of the joint postage stamp was created by American artist Hannah Smotrich, a graduate of the Yale School of Arts. 103.5 million copies of the American 32-cent self-adhesive postage stamp (Scott #3118) were printed. Both countries prepared first day envelopes and Israel also issued a post block, which has both stamps. The specialty of the Israeli stamp was that it became the first self-adhesive stamp of Israel.
Further, the self-adhesive stamp with the Hanukkah image was republished in the USA three more times in connection with the increase of postage value:
1999 - 33 cents (Scott #3352);
2001 - 34 cents (Scott #3547);
2002 - 37 cents (Scott #3672)
In 2004, the USA issued a 37-cent stamp in honor of Hanukkah (Scott #3880), on which a photograph of a dreidel (a quadrilateral spinning top) was depicted against the background “Hanukkah”. The dreidel, which was depicted by photograph, was purchased in Jerusalem by an American couple. For the first time, the stamp was issued on October 15, 2004 in New York and reprinted twice with different values:
2006 - 39 cents (Scott #4118);
2007 - 41 cents (Scott #4219)
On October 24, 2008, an issue of a 42 cent American stamp, dedicated to Hanukkah was planned.
Rosh Hashanah:
Annually, Israel issues a series of postage stamps commemorating the religious holiday of Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year. The first festive stamps of Israel on the occasion of Rosh Hashanah appeared on September 26, 1948 and were designed by Otte Wallish. “LMLK seals”, printed on jars of Hezekiah (around 700 BC), were depicted on the festive stamps.
Secular and patriotic motives such as bread, wine, olives, soldiers, kibbutzniks, Israeli dances and the national library (1992 issue) were often depicted on postage stamps, issued in the commemoration of Rosh Hashanah. Religious motives are displayed on many series, for example, the curtains for the synagogue Arks (1999), stories from Tanach (1994), the ushpizin invitation during the festival Feast of the Tabernacles (Sukkot) (1997), events of the Jewish life cycle (1995) and the orders of Mishnah with the image of Nezikin (2006).
Kwanzaa is a non-religious African-American holiday starting from December 26 up to January 1, and synthesizing the tradition of the African holiday “first fruit”. The first stamp in commemoration of this holiday was issued by the US Postal Service on October 22, 1997 with a 32 cent denomination (Scott #3175); 133 million copies of this miniature were printed. The image on the stamp was designed by self-taught artist Synthia Saint James. Subsequently, this postage stamp was thrice revalued: denominations of 33, 34 and 37 cents in 1999, 2001 and 2002 respectively (Scott #3368, 3548, 3673).
The postage stamp in the honor of Kwanzaa with a new theme, with an image designed by African-American artist Daniel Minter, was issued on October 16, 2004 (Scott #3881). It was a self adhesive stamp in the denomination of 37 cents and had already undergone two re-printings:
2006 - 39 cents (Scott #4119);
2007 - 41 cents (Scott #4220)
The new holiday stamp “Kwanzaa” with a 42 cent value will reissued on the 24th of October, 2008.
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