Traditional Christian scenes are likely to remain on New Zealand stamps as some countries move away from religion to avoid offending other religious groups.
New Zealand Post stamps manager Ivor Masters said Christmas stamps representing traditional Christian values had in the past been well received.
Last year's set
of stamps included the baby Jesus, the Three Wise Men and other scenes that have long been familiar with Christmas in New Zealand.
"The feedback we got was that they were extremely popular, so we were very keen to continue following on the traditional way for Christmas stamps," Mr Masters said.
This year a competition was held in which thousands of children submitted stamp designs, 10 of which were chosen to be used.
"We wanted to see what Christmas meant to them."
The traditional Christian scenes and others that were more kiwiana, including one with a kiwifruit wearing a Father Christmas hat, were included.
"So it did cover quite a large range. But in line with the popularity of the traditional stamps, the 2007 Christmas will obviously be going along similar lines to that of 2005," Mr Masters said.
The Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano, said the traditional values once feted at Christmas had evaporated in some countries, notably England.
The paper said the strongest sign of the changing face of Christmas was "the disappearance of all religious reference on stamps specially printed for Christmas, which now feature snowmen and deer and no longer the Three Wise Men or the Star" of Bethlehem.
England tabloid the Sun called it "a war against Christmas" and "a war that tends to erase all the traditions of Christmas".
- NZPA
