The Year of the Dragon began on February 10th 2024 and, for the ninth consecutive year, Madrid City Council organised a programme of cultural and festive activities in the Usera district, Madrid’s Chinatown (more information).
Whilst exhibitions, workshops and other activities take place over the course of a month, the main events this year were concentrated over the weekend of February 9th to 11th, with the Chinese New Year Festival and fireworks display, and the Grand Parade of the New Year of the Dragon.
The Dragon is the only mythological animal of the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac, and the most important in Chinese culture. It is not for nothing that the Chinese call themselves ‘descendants of the dragon’.
Throughout the weekend the esplanade in front of the Usera Municipal District Council became a showcase for Chinese culture, with exhibitions, dance displays and performances by Chinese associations, and the ‘Mercado de la Primavera’ (Spring Market), a market of traditional Chinese products and food stalls.
Perhaps by way of adding to the series of issues dedicated to main popular festivals, as in 2022 and 2023, the Correos philatelic service decided this year to release a new design for variable value stamps commemorating the Chinese Lunar Year of the Dragon and had the great foresight in releasing it during the Chinese New Year Festival in Usera.
With this issue, Correos joins the long list of postal administrations around the world that release philatelic issues commemorating the Chinese New Year. In particular, and within our field of study, these include Gibraltar, Macao, Singapore and Taiwan who issue annual variable value stamps dedicated to this theme.