Armstrong’s post office is hopping into the Year of the Rabbit celebrations.
To commemorate Chinese New Year and Canada Post’s special Year of the Rabbit stamps and related products, the Armstrong branch will host a celebration open to the public on Thursday beginning at 1:30 p.m.
“The big news is we have our name - Armstrong - on a cancelling stamp,” said Armstrong Canada Post assistant postmaster Sandra Hauff as she showed the stamp to Armstrong council members.
The stamp recognizes Armstrong as one of the cities releasing the new Year of the Rabbit stamps, and acknowledges the history of Chinese immigrants living in the community.
Canada Post has issued a domestic stamp featuring a rabbit on the heels of another rabbit, creating a repeating image of rabbits that appear to be hopping across the pane of stamps. An international stamp features an image of two rabbits chasing each other in an endless circle which is based on a traditional Chinese robe medallion.
The stamps will be available at the Armstrong post office celebration, along with other displays.
“We will have a real rabbit on hand, a 4-H member will talk about the rabbit, and we’ll have fortune cookies and a dragon dance,” said Hauff.
Armstrong resident Mary Jong, who will also be on hand for the open house and whose family members will help perform the dragon dance, explained to council that a person born in the Year of the Rabbit (1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011) exhibits characteristics of being calm, gentle and considerate when dealing with others.
“They are like chess players,” said Jong. “They like to take their sweet time, and often they win because of their strategies.”
Jong also said Armstrong was once a very vibrant Chinese community, with more than 500 Chinese settlers in the city.
“They originally came here to help with construction of the roads, but they weren’t allowed to own land because they were Chinese,” said Jong. “So they rented land and they farmed.”
Jong’s father was one who came to Armstrong to build roads, and stayed, eventually buying property when the laws changed.
