The Year of the Ox stamp is the second stamp issued in the latest Lunar New Year stamp series designed by artist Kam Mak, who was born in Hong Kong and grew up in New York City's Chinatown after his family moved to the U.S. in 1971. Art director Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, worked on the new series with Mak, who now lives in Brooklyn, NY. They focused on some of the common ways the Lunar New Year Holiday is celebrated. To commemorate the Year of the Ox (Jan. 26, 2009 - Feb. 13, 2010), they chose a lion head of a type often worn at parades and other festivities.