What:

The U.S. Postal Service celebrates the Lunar New Year with the release of the Year of the Horse stamp. The Year of the Horse begins Feb. 17, 2026, and ends Feb. 5, 2027.

The first-day-of-issue event for the Forever stamp will be in Houston and is free and open to the public. News of the stamp is being shared with the hashtags #LunarNewYearHorse and #LunarNewYearStamp.

Customers can preorder Lunar New Year: Year of the Horse stamps on usps.com and they will be shipped on Feb. 3, 2026.

Who:

David Steiner, postmaster general and chief executive officer of the U.S. Postal Service, will be the dedicating official

Gary Poon, chief executive officer, Chinese Community Center

Luis M. Chen, chef and content creator

When:

Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 11 a.m. Central

Where:

Chinese Community Center
9800 Town Park Drive
Houston, TX 77036

RSVP:

Attendees are encouraged to register at usps.com/lunarnewyearhorse.

Background:

Lunar New Year — also referred to as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival — is one of the most widely celebrated cultural holidays in the world.

Parades, fireworks and festivals mark the holiday in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and other East and Southeast Asian communities across America.

In 2020, the Postal Service introduced its third — and current — Lunar New Year stamp series. This is the seventh Forever stamp in that series, which will continue through 2031 with stamps for the Year of the Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar.

Two previous award-winning Lunar New Year series ran from 1992-2004 and from 2008-2019 and showcased the art of Clarence Lee and Kam Mak, respectively.

The Year of the Horse stamp features a colorful three-dimensional mask depicting a frontal view of the face of a horse. Antonio Alcalá, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp with original art by Camille Chew. Calling to mind the elaborately decorated masks used in the dragon or lion dances often performed during Lunar New Year parades, Chew’s designs are a contemporary take on the long tradition of paper-cut folk-art crafts created during this auspicious time of year.

Chew constructed the mask out of hand-printed paper, then cut, scored and folded it into shape. She then embellished the mask with acrylic paint and other paper elements, such as flowers and tassels, and covered the back of the mask in a layer of papier-mâché. The mask was then photographed on a white background for this series.

Postal Products

Customers may purchase stamps and other philatelic products through the Postal Store at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail through USA Philatelic or at Post Office locations nationwide. For officially licensed stamp products, shop the USPS Officially Licensed Collection on Amazon. Additional information on stamps, first-day-of-issue  ceremonies and stamp-inspired products can be found at StampsForever.com.

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