Lietuvos paštas Celebrates Christmas by Issuing Scented Postage Stamps

“Traditionally, the issue of celebratory postage stamps coincides with the sending of season’s greetings. During the Christmas period, postcards, correspondence and gifts will be decorated with scented postage stamps issued for the first time in the history of philately in Lithuania.

It is said that scents help to bring back memories and evoke feelings and moods, so this year, let the smell of freshly baked ginger biscuits that fills the homes of many of us before Christmas travel by post as well. Christmas wishes this year will be scented, too,” says Tomas Bašarovas, ‎Head of Communication Group at Lietuvos paštas.

Celebratory postage stamps for Christmas and the New Year were created by artist and illustrator of children’s books Aušra Kiudulaitė. The available denominations of scented postage stamps will be EUR 0.39 (circulation: 800,000 stamps) for sending correspondence in Lithuania and EUR 0.81 (circulation: 150,000 stamps) for sending correspondence abroad.

Father Christmas on Postage Stamps

Celebratory postage stamps depict symbolic themes that often recur in the works of artist A. Kiudulaitė: the mountain person and stories of a small town. “The mountain person theme depicts the back of a person who is holding the whole world. Father Christmas bringing winter, snow covered houses and trees is depicted on this postage stamp. That’s what the approach of Christmas means to people – it brings not just the holidays, but the whole world.

Another postage stamp depicts the daily life of a small snow covered town: shining stars, smoke cosily rising from chimneys, people coming home after work.

I like using minimalistic means to convey mood and feelings, so the choice of colour palette is not accidental either: blue and red, cold, snow and cheeks that are red because of icy wind, tree decorations and the red sun on a December morning,” said artist A. Kiudulaitė, the creator of the stamps.

In addition to the new postage stamps to celebrate Christmas and the New Year, the first day cover will also be available. On Saturday, correspondence paid with the new postage stamps will be stamped at the central post office in Vilnius with the datestamp of the first day.

The Scent is Caused by Scented Ink

Scented Lithuanian postage stamps were printed in France, which is considered to be the “home country” of perfume. “Scented postage stamps are created by using modern flexographic technology. A special ink that contains compressed perfume bubbles is used. When the surface of a postage stamp is gently rubbed, the bubbles start to rise, and the scent contained in them is released,” T. Bašarovas says about the manufacture of scented stamps.

Scented postage stamps are not released often. Such an unusual product appeared for the first time in the middle of the 1970s in the Kingdom of Bhutan, where a series of six postage stamps depicting red roses was released. Each stamp in this series smelled of roses.

“It was noted that flower scents are usually selected for scented stamps; however, there have been many different types of scented stamps. Scents are usually associated with images, colours, sounds, mood and feelings, so several years ago postage stamps smelling of burned timber were released in Brazil to emphasise the danger caused by forest fires. Postage stamps smelling of sweet and sour pork were issued in China in 2007 to celebrate the Year of the Pig,” said the representative of Lietuvos paštas.

Lietuvos paštas issues 25–27 postage stamps per year. Lietuvos paštas also provides courier, logistics, and financial intermediation services.