Google celebrates the end of the Lunar New Year with a Doodle and some history lessons on Yuan Xiao, the Lantern.
Google is celebrating the end of the Lunar New Year with a Doodle of Yuan Xiao, the Lantern Festival.
"Today marks the start of Yuan Xiao or The Lantern Festival, the climactic finale of Chinese New Year celebrations all over the world," says Google.
It adds that the tradition has been practised for more than 2,000 years, dating back to the Han Dynasty in China.
"It’s a time for gazing at the moon, enjoying lion dances, eating rice balls, telling riddles, and lighting lanterns for a variety of reasons," it says.
The Doodle depicts a series of red paper lanterns with the word Google spelled out on them, under a full moon.
"Once known as Shang Yuan, early lantern festivals were designed as offerings to the gods. Families lit lanterns near their homes to represent a holy place. Today’s lanterns vary widely in size and design. The Kongming lantern represents happiness while the sky lantern is lit for newlyweds or couples without children," explains Google.
It adds that on this day families also gather for a holiday feast, featuring tang yuan or rice dumplings filled with syrup and bean paste.
Google says people also write riddles or love notes on their lanterns, sending them skyward with high hopes of attracting their secret crush.
"The Lantern Festival is sometimes considered the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day – along with the Qixi festival. What could be more romantic than the sight of a nighttime sky filled with glowing lanterns?" it says.
Google says the Doodle is available in Malaysia, Taiwan and China. To note, Google is not typically available in China.
