Stamp Design

As an Iranian-American having lived in the United States for more than seven years, every year, I see stamps celebrating diverse cultures in my local USPS store. Beautiful designs celebrating Diwali, The Lunar New Year, Kwanzaa and many more. Unfortunately there are no designs out there for the Iranian New Year or Nowruz.

Nowruz is the Iranian New Year, which is celebrated worldwide by various ethno-linguistic groups around March 21.

I decided to propose some designs for stamps to the USPS. I thought about it for a while and I thought the best way to celebrate Nowruz is by incorporating items from the Haft-sin table. Haft-sin or Haft-seen is an arrangement of seven symbolic items whose names start with the letter “س” pronounced as “seen” the 15th letter in the Persian alphabet. Among them are apple, garlic, hyacinth and wheat sprouts that are present in my designs.

Hyacinth is the smell of Nowruz! When you walk in streets of Tehran the week before Nowruz, street vendors are selling it everywhere, making you smell that the New Year is right around the corner. Hyacinth in Farsi is Sonbal and since it starts with the letter “s”, it is one of the main items of a Haft-sin table.

Seeb (apple) is a symbol of health and beauty. Putting it on the Haft-sin table symbolizes a healthy year ahead.

Sabzeh is a symbol of rebirth and renewal of nature. It is customary to return the Sabzeh to nature at the end of the holidays (on the 13th day of the month Farvardin). The custom is to have a day out, go to the suburbs, or a park. Have a picnic and give your token of nature back to earth.

Seer (garlic) had medicinal use in ancient Iran, therefore it is a symbol of good health for the new year ahead.