Stamps Wiki:LNY2021/2

Isle of Man

Chinese Year of the Ox

7 January 2021

The Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is one of the most widely celebrated annual festivals on the planet. 2021 marks the year of the Ox, the second animal within the twelve year cycle or the Zodiac.

The Chinese Year of the Ox collection is a continuation of the Isle of Man Post Office’s Lunar New Year series having released numerous stamp issues commemorating the start of the Chinese New Year, including the Year of the Pig, the Year of the Dog and the Year of the Rat.

In addition to the main character, two other animals feature in the set that are strongly associated with the Ox: the Rooster is the most compatible sign with the Ox while, most famously, the Rat was carried by the Ox to the finish line of the mythological Emperor’s race of the zodiac signs race - only to hop off at the last moment and become the first sign in Chinese cosmology.