At 11 a.m., Chinese lion dancers of the Wah Yun Culture and Arts Academy will begin the ceremony issuing the collected sets of stamps designed each year by Honolulu's Clarence Lee.

Representatives of the postal service and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce will speak and Narcissus Queen Kerri Noelle Wai Jun Ching and Princess Kristina Wai Yuk Chang will be part of the event.

Everyone who attends will receive the ceremonial program in an envelope bearing one of the 12 stamps as well as the first-day cancellation postmark of Jan. 6. Lee will offer autographs.

That postmark, which Lee designed with a Chinese motif, is the first of a new offering, a digital color postmark that the postal service will make available for future philatelic issues, said Nancy Wong, postal service retail manager. Envelopes with a stamp and the cancellation postmark will be sold for $1.50 each.

The U.S. Postal Service is selling souvenir sheets of 24 lunar new year stamps for $8.88, with cash, checks or debit/credit cards accepted, Wong said. The sheet has a complete set of the 12 stamps designed by Clarence Lee, both front and back.

Collectors can put individual stamps on envelopes that they supply and have them marked for free with the standard black postmark. Other collectible products also will be available for sale.

The souvenir sheets will be sold beginning today at post offices and www.usps.com.