This colourful collectible is sold unsealed for the Lunar New Year custom of giving money inside a red pouch.

The international-rate stamp on this collectible hasdetails highlighted in gold foil. Its design is inspired by Zhu Bajie, a colourful character from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to theWest. Banished from a powerful position in Heaven, he is reborn into the mortal world as Pigsy, half human, half pig.

The stamp depicts a modestly dressed and seated Pigsy clutching an enormous muck rake. The souvenir sheet features a detail from the domestic stamp, showing aproud Pigsy clad in heavenly armour. The cover includes a traditional blessing in calligraphy by Albert Ng, O.Ont. The message reads "Treasures fill the home."

The Year of the Pig begins February 5, 2019, and ends on January 24, 2020. While the pig is the twelfth and final animal in the Chinese Lunar calendar, this is Canada Post's eleventh Lunar New Year issue. Our seriesconcludes in January 2020, with the arrival of theYear of the Rat.