One of Bermuda’s most cherished traditions has been chosen to adorn a new set of Island stamps released this week.Gombeys are the subject of the third set of stamps issued by the Bermuda Post Office for 2013 and they are the first in a planned series focusing on folk life and arts of celebration on the Island.The brightly coloured images will be seen around the world, on regular mail and by collectors who order first-day covers or sheets of stamps.“The Gombey dancers are something that are really Bermudian. They’re significant to our heritage and they have not been showcased greatly in past years,” said Stanley Taylor, Bermuda Post Office’s philatelic coordinator.He and his team have been preparing first-day covers to send out to many of the 700 to 800 subscribers who keenly follow Bermuda’s stamp releases some live as far away as Hong Kong and Australia. The stamps, and covers, will be launched on Thursday.Mr Taylor said it was pleasing to know that brightly colourful and iconic images of Bermuda would find their way to distant lands and give people a glimpse of the Island. Those who purchase the first-day covers will also receive liner notes about the Gombeys and their place in Bermuda history.And it is not only committed collectors who will be seeing the stamps: the new release will be on sale as regular stamps for customers mailing letters, parcels and postcards around the world.The Gombey stamps feature close-up details of the dancers’ costumes and dancing movements. It has not yet been decided how many parts the new folk life/art of celebration series of stamps will have, although future stamps may feature such Bermuda events as the recent Portuguese community Feast of the Holy Spirit celebration in St George.Stamp collectors can purchase first-day covers of the new Gombey stamps at the Bermuda Philatelic Bureau, in the main post office, from Thursday.The final new set of stamps for 2013 is scheduled for October and will be on the theme of Bermuda’s ‘mystery rose’.