A new Lunar New Year is getting off to a grand start and Google is marking the occasion with a series of Google Doodles.
Lunar New Year 2023 began today (January 22) marking the start of the Year of the Rabbit on the lunar calendar, with Google celebrating with an ornately stylized logo with the company’s name inside a hopping rabbit.
“Each year after the first new moon of the lunar calendar, communities around the world decorate, cook festive food and gather with loved ones,” Google wrote in a Doodle explainer. (opens in new tab),
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The company said, “The traditions of the Lunar New Year festival date back thousands of years to a popular legend. A mythical beast called Nyan was known to show up each Lunar New Year’s Eve and terrorize people and livestock.” “The loud noise, red color and fire scared the Nian, so it became a tradition for families to decorate their doors with red paper, set off fireworks and keep lanterns burning all night.”
The Year of the Rabbit is followed by the Year of the Tiger on the lunar calendar.
Google wrote in its description, “This year is the year of the rabbit, which is associated with peace and prosperity.” The doodle artwork is crafted from paper to honor Chinese paper-cutting (jianzhi), a long-standing Lunar New Year tradition.”
Google released several different versions of its Lunar New Year 2023 calendar, including one for South Korea (opens in new tab) and Vietnam, where it is known as Tet and marked the beginning of the year of the cat. (opens in new tab),
“Known as Tet in Vietnamese, this holiday is celebrated by communities every year during the Tet festival, with people often traveling to the homes of their extended families and bringing in feasts in the new year. The Tet festival traditionally consists of three Celebrated on days traditionally celebrated to spend time with friends and colleagues and visit temples and ancestral burial sites. During family feasts, people usually eat vegetables, banh chung (glutinous rice cake), And eat ku kiu (pickled scallions),” Google wrote.
“This year marks the year of the cat, which is associated with prosperity, cleverness and skill. The doodle artwork is crafted from paper to honor the paper folding and cutting art traditionally practiced during the Lunar New Year. “
If you’re looking for some amazing sights to mark the Lunar New Year, Venus and Saturn will shine very close together after sunset in a planetary conjunction. You can watch the Venus and Saturn conjunction in a free webcast at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT).
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow @tariqjmalik, follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook And instagram,