Google’s Cute Doodle Honors the Persian New Year on Nowruz 2024
The Persian New Year, also known as Nowruz, is celebrated by half of the world’s population when the vibrant spring season arrives everywhere. Given that about “300 million people” recognize the widely observed holiday, it goes without saying that Google contributed to the celebrations by creating a Google Doodle. For Nowruz 2024, Google has temporarily substituted a charming doodle for their “Google” logo. Pendar Yousefi, an artist, created the illustrations for the doodle. The Doodle’s primary topic is flowers and spring, and it has a lot of gorgeous animals and flowers together with strong Persian art and architecture.
The event is held in March each year, and this year it is being observed on March 19, which is today. This 13-day celebration is held in accordance with the Persian calendar, often referred to as the Solar Hijri Calendar. Nowruz celebrates not only the start of the New Year and the arrival of spring, but also “peace and harmony.”
The yearly celebration dates back more than 3,000 years. Nowruz’s oldest recorded roots date back to ancient Iran (then Persia). To commemorate the beginning of the blossoming season, it was celebrated on the spring equinox. According to the Google Doodles description of the event, “as time went on, several countries and ethnic groups along the Silk Roads started adopting the tradition.”
Presents are exchanged between individuals on Nowruz, just as at all the other holidays celebrated worldwide. Amidst all of that, “haft-sīn” is the primary rite that has a strong connection to Nowruz. In order to perform the “haft-sīn” ceremony, participants must lay out a number of objects, most notably wheat, wheat pudding, olives, berries, vinegar, apples, and garlic, each of which stands for a different meaning. They stand for “rebirth and good fortune, power and strength, love, sunrise, age and patience, beauty, and good health,” according to the Google Doodle explanation.
The haft-sīn is the most significant custom observed on Nowruz. Families get together and arrange seven objects, each of which stands for rebirth and revitalization. The Google Doodle said, “These things commonly contain wheat for good fortune and rebirth, wheat pudding for strength and power, olive for love, berries for the dawn, vinegar for age and patience, apple for beauty, and garlic for good health.
