Latvijas Pasts has released the three final postage stamps in the stamp series Republic of Latvia – 100 dedicating them to the traditions of Latvian Song and Dance celebrations. The first day cancellation of the new stamps is scheduled to take place at the Riga Latvian Society House at 13 Merkela Street, Riga, from 9 AM to 6 PM on the 29th of July 2018. The stamp presentation event, however, is planned to take place at 11 AM - it will be attended by the chief conductors and directors of the XXVI Nationwide Latvian Song and XVI Dance Celebrations, the management of Latvian National Centre for Culture and Latvijas Pasts together with the mixed choir of Latvijas Pasts called Dziesmu pasts.
The Latvia centenary stamp series is concluded with three new postage stamps that depict fundamental facts of the Song and Dance Celebration movement, events and personalities. Each of the three new stamps has a different face value, and the print run of each stamp is 80,000 copies. The release of the stamps is accompanied by the issue of a special cover with a print run of 1,000 copies. The author of the stamps of the entire series Republic of Latvia – 100 has been the artist Elita Viliama.
The stamp with a face value of € 0.54 is dedicated to the Song celebration, and it corresponds to the cost of sending a regular Class B letter within the territory of the Republic of Latvia. The centre of the stamp depicts the legendary choir conductor Haralds Mednis, bet the background includes several other prominent Latvian choirmasters and Song Celebration chief directors.
The tradition of Dance Celebration is featured on the stamp with the face value of € 0.57 aimed at sending a regular Class A letter within the territory of Latvia. The stamp depicts two dancers in traditional national costumes of Barta (Bārta) parish.
The third stamp with the face value of € 1.42, corresponding to the cost of sending a registered Class A letter within Latvia, renders the image of Ligo banner of the Song Celebration, which was created along with the first Latvian Song Celebration in 1873.
The series of the stamps Republic of Latvia – 100 was launched by Latvijas Pasts in 2009 in preparation for the centenary of the Republic of Latvia. Every year three new stamps were issued as part of this series that were dedicated to the events or personalities significant to Latvia: the origins of the establishment of the statehood of Latvia, its national symbols, history of writing, seafaring, music, fine arts and architecture, as well as sports legends and scientists.
