USPS Debuts Eid Stamp

By: iViews   Source: iViews Nov 13, 2000 No Comments

Category: Life & Society Views: 1116
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The U.S. postal service today debuted a stamp featuring the Eid al Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end of the 30-day fast of Ramadan.

According to USPS officials, the Eid ul-Fitr 34-cent stamp will be released to the public in October 2001.

The announcement came after nearly a decade-long campaign spearheaded by Dearborn Muslims to see a stamp celebrating their religious holiday. Muslim communities in San Francisco, California and Fairfield, Ohio later joined the campaign and encouraged Muslim children to write the U.S. Postmaster.

The postal service reportedly received "hundreds of letters" requesting the stamp. The stamp will feature the Arabic phrase "Eid Mubarak" written in gold calligraphy against a blue background. Eid Mubarak translates as "blessed festival," and can be paraphrased, "May your holiday be blessed."

The Eid stamp, along with others to be released in 2001, was featured at Monday morning on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" program. The call-in program was broadcasted from the Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum.

Eid ul-Fitr is the first of the two major Muslim holidays. The second holiday comes at the end of the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. Demographers say Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in this country and around the world. There are an estimated 6 million Muslims in America and some 1.2 billion worldwide.

The postal service issued stamps celebrating the Jewish holiday Hanukkah in 1996 and the African American holiday of Kwanzaa in 1997.

  Category: Life & Society
Views: 1116
 
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