Canada Post releases new stamp celebrating Muslim festival

Canada Post releases new stamp celebrating Muslim festival

TORONTO — Canada Post has released a stamp featuring Middle Eastern cookies to commemorate an annual festival that marks the end of a holy month for Muslims.

The Crown corporation says Canadians can use the stamps to send greetings ahead of Eid al-Fitr, a four-day Islamic festival in April that follows Ramadan, a holy month many Muslims spend fasting from sunrise to sunset and volunteering for charities.

The stamps feature cookies called maamouls that are baked and consumed by Muslims across the world during times of celebration and can be traced back to ancient Egypt.

This is the sixth stamp issued by Canada Post that celebrates a festival marked by many of the two million Muslims living in the country.

The corporation says the stamp is also one of several it releases each year to mark celebrations important to Canada’s diverse communities, such as Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas.

Canada Post says its latest stamp can also be used to celebrate the Muslim festival called Eid al-Adha in June, which marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press