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A Hanukkah stamp is a holiday stamp issued to commemorate Hanukkah. Since 1996, several Hanukkah-themed postage stamps have been issued, often jointly.
A Hanukkah stamp is a holiday postage stamp issued to commemorate the Jewish holiday Hanukkah.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) issued a 32-cent Hanukkah stamp in 1996 with a menorah design as a joint issue with Israel Post. [1] A menorah design was also used in 2008 for a forever stamp issued jointly with USPS. [2] [3] In 2012, a stamp sheet commemorating Hanukkah was issued jointly with India Post. [4]
The United States Postal Service has released several Hanukkah-themed postage stamps.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) issued a 32-cent Hanukkah stamp in 1996 as a joint issue with Israel. [1] This initial printing produced 103.5 million stamps and in 1997 there was a re-issue. It is regarded as the first Jewish stamp issued by the US Postal service and noted by most experts and dealers of these kind of stamps.
The U.S. Postal Service unveiled a new series of "Holiday Celebration" stamps in 1996 with the debut of the first stamp commemorating the Jewish holiday of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. The Chanukah stamp is the first U.S. stamp to recognize a Jewish holiday. Jointly issued with Israel, both countries feature the same design. The U.S. version contains the English spelling of "Hanukkah" and the Israeli stamp features the Hebrew spelling. The Chanukah stamp was designed by Hannah Smotrich, a graphic designer and instructor at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., and Board Member of the Washington Chapter - American Institute of Graphic Arts. Smotrich created the stamp design using pieces of cut colored paper, a medium she has used to create cards for family and friends. Smotrich paid particular attention to the choice of colors for the candles and background "to emphasize the upbeat nature of a playful, joyous holiday." The U.S. Postal Service will issue a new Holiday Celebrations series stamp each year reflecting a different cultural or ethnic holiday. The Postal Service will print 142 million of the Chanukah stamps. [5] [ unreliable source? ]
Thus, that stamp and the year it was first issued, 1996, was historic, and was part of a turnaround, as explained:
In 1962 the United States Postal Service issued Its first Christmas Stamp and has been issuing new and different Christmas stamps every year since then. Beginning in 1965 and every year (with 3 exceptions) since then the USPS has issued a Christmas stamp with a religious theme (predominantly the "Madonna & Child"). After years of refusing to issue a Hanukkah stamp, citing specific religious reference as the reason (while claiming the "Madonna & Child" stamps were merely art masterpiece reproductions), the United States Postal Service issued its first Hanukkah stamp in 1996. This only after, in November of 1994, the USPS announced it would discontinue the "Madonna & Child" Christmas because of its specific religious theme. And, within a week "Bowing to public pressure" reversed that decision. I'm sure the "pressure" came from Catholic organizations. Although a U.S. Hanukkah stamp has been "available" every year since 1996 it had been the same design through 2003. It was recycled leftovers from the previous year, or a revalued version as postal rates increased. During the same period of time there was a new "Madonna & Child" stamp almost every year (the exceptions being 2000 just before a rate increase in January 2001, and in 2003 supposedly to reduce stamp production costs). In 2004 the United States Postal Service issued the first new Hanukkah stamp design since 1996. During the same period of time the USPS issued seven new "Madonna & Child" Christmas stamps and eight new Chinese New Year stamps... [6]
The stamp was reissued in 1999 with a 33-cent denomination, followed in 2001 at 34 cents and 2002 at 37 cents.
In 2004 after 8 years of reissuing the menorah design, the USPS issued a dreidel design for the Hanukkah stamp with a 37-cent denomination. The dreidel design was used through 2008, with changes in denomination to 39 cents in 2006, 41 cents in 2007 and 42 cents in 2008.
A menorah design was used in 2008 for a forever stamp issued jointly with Israel Post. [2] [3]
The 2009 Hanukkah design features a photograph of a menorah with nine lit candles and a 44-cent denomination. The menorah was designed by Lisa Regan of the Garden Deva Sculpture Company in Tulsa, OK, and photographed by Ira Wexler of Braddock Heights, MD. Garden Deva was commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service to design and fabricate the menorah. [5] After the reveal ceremony in New York City on October 9, the stamp was made available nationwide at all post offices.
In 2011, the Hanukkah stamp was redesigned with the word "Hanukkah" broken into eight boxes, one of which (the second K) is in the shape of a dreidel. The denomination was 44 cents.
In 2013, the USPS issued a revamped Hanukkah menorah design on a brown background as a forever stamp with an effective 46 cent denomination. The stamp was redesigned and issued in 2016 with a blue background and an effective 47-cent denomination.
Hanukkah is a Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE.
Postal service in the United States began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a system of universal prepayment that required all letters to bear nationally issued adhesive postage stamps.
A dreidel, also dreidle or dreidl, is a four-sided spinning top, played during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The dreidel is a Jewish variant on the teetotum, a gambling toy found in Europe and Latin America.
A Christmas stamp is a postage stamp with a Christmas theme, intended for use on seasonal mail such as Christmas cards. Many countries of the world issue such stamps, which are regular postage stamps and are usually valid for postage year-round. They usually go on sale some time between early October and early December, and are printed in considerable quantities.
A Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah, is a nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Eight of the nine branches hold lights that symbolize the eight nights of the holiday; on each night, one more light is lit than the previous night, until on the final night all eight branches are ignited. The ninth branch holds a candle, called the shamash, which is used to light the other eight.
Holiday stamps are a type of postage stamp issued to commemorate a particular religious festival or holiday.
Non-denominated postage is a postage stamp intended to meet a certain postage rate, but printed without the denomination, the price for that rate. They may retain full validity for the intended rate, regardless of later rate changes, or they may retain validity only for the original purchase price. In many English-speaking countries, it is called non-value indicator or non-value indicated (NVI) postage. Introduced to reduce the cost of printing large issues of low-value stamps to "top-up" old issues, NVI stamps are used in many countries.
Hanukkah music contains several songs associated with the festival of Hanukkah.
Hanukkah gelt, also known as gelt, is money given as presents during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. It is typically given to children and sometimes teachers, often in conjunction with the game of Dreidel. In the 20th century, candy manufacturers started selling Hanukkah-themed chocolate coins wrapped in gold or silver foil, as a substitute or supplement to real money gifts.
The postage stamps and postal history of Israel is a survey of the postage stamps issued by the state of Israel, and its postal history, since independence was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. The first postage stamps were issued two days later on May 16, 1948. Pre-1948 postal history is discussed in postage stamps and postal history of Palestine.
Jewish ceremonial art is objects used by Jews for ritual purposes. Because enhancing a mitzvah by performing it with an especially beautiful object is considered a praiseworthy way of honoring God's commandments, Judaism has a long tradition of commissioning ritual objects from craftsmen and artists.
A public menorah is a large menorah displayed publicly during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. It is done to celebrate the holiday and publicize the miracle of Hanukkah, and is typically accompanied by a public event during one of the nights of Hanukkah attended by invited dignitaries who are honored with lighting the menorah.
The White House Hanukkah Party is an annual reception held at the White House and hosted by the U.S. President and First Lady to recognize and celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The tradition was established in 2001, during the administration of George W. Bush. The guest list includes hundreds of American Jewish politicians, organization heads, and school and yeshiva deans.
Presidents of the United States have frequently appeared on U.S. postage stamps since the mid-19th century. The United States Post Office Department released its first two postage stamps in 1847, featuring George Washington on one, and Benjamin Franklin on the other. The advent of presidents on postage stamps has been definitive to U.S. postage stamp design since the first issues were released and set the precedent that U.S. stamp designs would follow for many generations.
Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday.
Thanksgivukkah is a holiday name portmanteau neologism given to the convergence of the American holiday of Thanksgiving and the first day of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah on Thursday, November 28, 2013. It was the result of a rare coincidence between the lunisolar Hebrew calendar and the Gregorian calendar. Because the calendars are not calculated the same way, Hanukkah appears from year to year on different dates on the Gregorian calendar, ranging from late November to early January.
Puerto Rico topics have been featured on the stamps of Spain and of the United States. Spanish stamps are found at Postage stamps and postal history of Puerto Rico.
The history of Virginia through the colonial period on into contemporary times has been depicted and commemorated on postage stamps accounting for many important personalities, places and events involving the nation's history. Themes are particularly rich in early American and new nation history, historical landmarks, and Virginia-born presidents.
The U.S. Parcel Post stamps of 1912–13 were the first such stamps issued by the U.S. Post Office Department and consisted of twelve denominations to pay the postage on parcels weighing 16 ounces and more, with each denomination printed in the same color of "carmine-rose". Their border design was similar while each denomination of stamp bore its own distinctive image in the center (vignette). Unlike regular postage items, whose rates were determined by weight in ounces, Parcel Post rates were determined and measured by increments in pounds. The new stamps were soon widely used by industry, farmers and others who lived in rural areas. Partly owing to some confusion involving their usage, their exclusive use as Parcel Post stamps proved short lived, as regular postage stamps were soon allowed to be used to pay parcel postage rates.
A Hanukkah film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Films in this style traditionally incorporate the religious aspects of Hanukkah, such as lighting the menorah and the story of the Maccabees, as well as the cultural aspects of Hanukkah, such as spinning dreidels, or eating traditional foods such as latkes, sufganiyot, or gelt. Films in this genre are typically similar to comedy and romantic comedy films in content, however some are similar in style to action, drama, and animated films, among other genres. Hanukkah films are more commonly produced in the United States, however, they are also produced in other countries such as Israel.
