(NewsNation) — The United States Postal Service announced Friday its latest special edition postage stamps will feature piñatas on them in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.
These “Piñatas!” stamps come in four designs — two donkeys and two seven-point stars — with a “bright, saturated color palette” USPS says was inspired by Mexican culture.
Víctor Meléndez created the original art and designed the stamps, while Antonio Alcalá was the art director.
Meléndez, who grew up in Mexico City, told the Associated Press in an interview he remembers making piñatas with his cousins and other relatives for Las Posadas, which is celebrated in Mexico and other Latin American countries to mark the birth of Christ each December.
“That’s a dear, dear memory of just fun and happiness,” he said. “I wanted to show a little bit of that and pay homage to some of those traditions.”
Piñatas have become associated with parties, although the AP writes they have a “layered” history and can even be traced back to 16th-century trade routes between Latin America and Asia.
“Ours is truly a world culture, and our stamps allow us to weave together the many threads of our national tapestry, and piñatas are the perfect example of this,” Isaac Cronkhite, chief processing and distribution officer and executive vice president for the U.S. Postal Service, said in a statement.
“Piñatas!” stamps are being sold in booklets of 20 stamps and are equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.