2024 Hanukkah First-Class Forever Stamps

2024 Hanukkah

• Issued in honor of the Festival of Lights
• Part of the Holiday Celebrations series
  
  

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Holiday Celebrations Series
Value:   73¢ First Class Mail Rate (forever)
First Day of Issue:  September 19, 2024
First Day City:  Washington, DC
Quantity Issued:  10,000,000
Printed by:  Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method:  Offset, Microprint
Format:  Pane of 20, from cylinders of 320

Why the stamp was issued:  The stamp was issued for use on Hanukkah greetings in the 2024 season.

About the stamp design:  The Hanukkah stamp pictures an ink drawing of a menorah (or hanukkiah).  This nine-branched candelabra is a central part of Hanukkah celebrations. USPS art director, Antonio Alcala created the illustration digitally.  Blue and white are the main colors on this stamp because they are traditional colors of the holiday.

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue ceremony for the Hanukkah stamp took place at the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.

About the Holiday Celebration Series:  The USPS introduced the Holiday Celebration series in 1996 with a stamp honoring the Jewish festival, Hanukkah.  The Hanukkah stamp was also the start of the USPS’s new Holiday Celebrations Series, which sought to honor a different cultural or ethnic holiday every year.  The second stamp in the series came exactly a year after the first.  It honored Kwanzaa, an African-American holiday based on the traditional African harvest festival.  The name for the seven-day festival means “first fruits” in Swahili.
The series continues to commemorate different cultural or religious holidays each year such as Eid, Cinco de Mayo, and others.

History the stamp represents:  Hanukkah or the Jewish Festival of Lights, as it is sometimes called, begins on the 25th of the Hebrew month Kislev and lasts for eight days.  On the first evening, just after dark, one candle is lit on the menorah, a special eight-branched candelabrum.  Each night, another candle is lit until on the last night there are eight candles burning.
The origins of Hanukkah can be traced back more than 2100 years ago when Judah Maccabee and his followers liberated Jerusalem from Antiochus IV Epiphanes.  Devoted to the political and cultural ideas of ancient Greece, Antiochus had enacted a number of anti-Jewish decrees and defiled the Holy Temple in an effort to destroy the Jews’ religion.  Eventually they rebelled, and amazingly, after a three-year struggle, were able to defeat the Greek Army.
After their victory, the Jews set about cleansing and repairing the Holy Temple.  When it came time to kindle the Holy Light, only one small jar of oil could be found – enough to burn the light for one day.  Miraculously, the light burned for eight days and nights, long enough to prepare a fresh supply of consecrated oil.  The next year the leaders of Israel declared that every year on the 25th of Kislev all Jews should celebrate the miracle of Chanukah (dedication).  Today, the menorah’s flame has come to symbolize tolerance, diversity, strength, and perseverance.

Real Postage Stamps: These are real postage stamps that can mail letters, envelopes, and others, They can cover the international rates the first time, USPS serves any country with the one-ounce letter. One stamp is one ounce.

Saving Your Time and Money: No need to waste your time and money on the way to the post office for stamps! Our postage stamps are very convenient and also at a nice price!

Easy Use: With self-adhesive, convenient to use. Not only great for postcards, letters, mailing envelopes, or collecting but also suitable for collectibles, birthdays, weddings, parties, celebrations, and so on.

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