Lunar New Year starts today (1st) and Google has a new Doodle to celebrate the date. The search engine again plays with the figure of the Year of the Tiger with an animated illustration and clicking on it takes the user to more information about the date, including the new easter egg with fireworks on the search page.
The turn of the Year of the Ox to the Year of the Yang Water Tiger symbolizes the entry into a cycle of strong dynamism throughout the world. According to the Chinese horoscope, those born in this cycle are brave, strong and competitive people.
In the Asian country, the date is of great importance: the New Year’s parties (also known as Spring Festival) serve to wish prosperity for the period to come. The day is celebrated with hearty family dinners, fireworks, dragon costumes and lots of traditional music.
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To check out the new Google Doodle, just access the search engine from any browser or through the mobile app (Android | iOS). The addition isn’t as interesting as the Tokyo Olympics mini-game, but it’s still an important souvenir.
It wasn’t just in the search engine that the date was celebrated, in fact: the Emoji Kitchen by Gboard, Google’s virtual keyboard, now has mixtures of emojis with the tiger. The animal now has a series of unique and fun expressions to spice up the conversation, just like the turtle, sloth, kitten and the various other animals mentioned in the complete Gboard mixer guide prepared by Kenyannews.
Chinese New Year on Google
The Year of the Tiger doodle has been available since the turn of the month in Asia, but has now been released to more countries. According to Google, only users of the platform in Africa and the Middle East did not come across the animation on the home page.
Google points out that the Lunar New Year celebration is global, based on the ancient Chinese lunisolar calendar system, which tracks the cycles of the Sun and Moon.
There are a number of traditions linked to the date, which take place up to 10 days in advance. Many are in the habit of cleaning their homes in preparation for the celebrations and there is no shortage of typical foods such as fish, which symbolize abundance, and tangerines. Houses are also decorated with peach blossoms, red lanterns, with fai chun (red ribbons wishing luck and prosperity) and exchange lai see (red envelopes with money).
