Release: OCTOBER 1, 2021
In my grade school, when Halloween rolled around, everyone would wear their costumes to school. We’d then all parade across the school property as parents looked on. It was a curious ritual.
One year, in fourth grade, a young girl from England was in our class. That Halloween, we again came bedecked in our costumes. We were sitting at our desks when she walked in. Upon seeing us, she promptly screamed, dropped her books and ran down the hall in tears....
Our teacher had to run to catch and console her. Evidently, at that time, they didn’t have Halloween in Great Britain. She was justifiably horrified to have walked into a room filled with ersatz ghouls and skeletons.That underscores the inexplicable approach to death most of us have. Because nothing about our demise is proven or certain, we make nervous jokes about it. Again, this month, as we have done since around 1840, kids will again dress up, many in death-related attire, going door-to-door to cajole homeowners into doling out saccharine-laced ransom for merely appearing on the doorstep.
Elsewhere, billions of people take a different approach to the afterlife. In India/Asia, right about now, hundreds of millions of Hindus celebrate Pitri Paksha – a Festival of the Dead. That’s when they invoke their dead ancestors to come back to this world for a visit. (My first thought was, “What if they’re busy and didn’t want to come back just now?” Evidently that doesn’t factor in.)
To our south, in Mexico, a similar celebration called Dia de Muertos takes place also around October. Their “Day of the Dead” lets Mexicans celebrate deceased family members with colorful decorations and parties. In doing so, it is believed the departed return to enjoy celebrating with families before heading back to the afterlife.
The Day of the Dead is something of an amalgam influenced by the Catholic practice of All Saints Day and an ancient belief attributed to the Aztecs. The latter is said to date back 3,000 years to pre-Columbian Latin America. Curiously, though the practice of the celebrants here on earth involves tangible representations of skeletons – particularly skulls, the crux of the observance involves unseen spirits and the belief that invisible apparitions return. So, it takes some faith. Some of the associated illustrations are macabre enough to include skeletons in graveyards wearing wedding attire. It’s as if a scene were taken out of the film Beetlejuice, or vice versa.
With over 18 percent of the US population now identified as Hispanic or Latino, it’s no surprise US businesses are focusing some direction on what interests that demographic. As of this month, that includes the US Postal Service.
Beginning the first week of October, the USPS released four Day of the Dead, First Class postage stamps. Each has a value of the new postal rate of 58-cents but is also a “Forever” stamp. That means, similar to the figures honored on them, the stamps will be “alive” and usable for First Class mail well into the future.
The sheets of 20 stamps feature four different designs, each showing the decorated stylized skull of a departed family member. The illustrations include skulls of a child with a hair bow; a man wearing a hat and mustache; a woman with curled hair; and a fourth non-descript youngster. Surrounding each skull are lit candles said to guide deceased loved ones back on their journey to the land of the living. Around them are colorful marigolds, the most popular Day of the Dead flower. The white skulls are in bright contrast to the stamps’ black background.
The stamps were just issued in the Texas border town of El Paso and are currently available at post offices nationwide.
Collectors can also obtain specially designed First Day of Issue cancels free from the Postal Service. To do so, purchase the stamps at a post office, affix them to a self-addressed envelope and send that inside of a larger envelope to: FDOI – Day of the Dead Stamps; USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services; 8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300; Kansas City, MO 64144-9900
There’s no charge for the cancel but all orders must be received no later than January 30, 2022. After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the envelopes will be returned through regular mail.
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