Hindus are celebrating the two-day Holi “festival of colours” in mass gatherings across the globe.
The ancient festival, which originated in India and Nepal, is a spring rite that has in recent years gained popularity amongst non-Hindus.
Google showers its logo with gulaal to celebrate Holi festival on its home pages in 11 countries..
In tune of the tradition of indulging in the bright, colourful festivity associated with Holi, Google is showering its logo with gulaal on the home pages of 11 countries around the world.
Google has posted an animated GIF doodle on its home pages in India, Canada, Sweden, Latvia, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia. The same doodle was also posted on Google’s Nepal home page on March 22 to celebrate the Holika festival.
However, this year unlike 2015 there’s no Holi doodle on Google’s UK home page (a country with a sizeable population of Indian origin) as Google is celebrating William Morris’ 182nd birth anniversary.
This is the sixth doodle that Google has posted on the occasion of Holi. The first was in 2001, followed by 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015.
In 2015, Google had posted an animated doodle on its India homepage. The doodle featured the Google logo being splashed by vibrant colours ranging from blue to orange, followed by a smiling face with the two O’s of Google turning into eyes.
In 2013, there was no Holi doodle. The Google 2014 Holi doodle was, in fact, quite similar to the 2011 doodle, but with a pickhari (spray gun) added in the 2014 version.
In 2012, Holi coincided with the International Women’s Day and the doodle that Google posted for the event had a Holi-like feel.
Holi (pronunciation: /ˈhoʊliː/; Sanskrit: होली Holī) is a spring festival in Nepal and India, also known as the festival of colours or the festival of sharing love. Holi is a two day festival which starts on the Purnima (Full Moon day) falling in the Bikram Sambat Hindu Calendar month of Falgun which falls somewhere between end of February and Mid of March in the Gregorian Calendar. The first day is known as Holika Dahan or Chhoti Holi while the second day is known as Rangwali Holi, Dhuleti, Dhulandi or Dhulivandan.
It is an ancient Hindu religious festival which has become popular with non-Hindus in many parts of South Asia, as well as people of other communities outside Asia.
It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, and other regions of the world with significant populations of Hindus or people of Indian origin and Nepalese diaspora. In recent years the festival has spread to parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic, and colours.