Google celebrates Lunar New Year with pig doodle

Feb. 5 marks the first day of the lunar calendar, a holiday, also known as the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, celebrated around the world.

The Spring Festival is technically 15 days, according to chinesenewyear.net, making it the longest Chinese holiday.

We are now in the Year of the Pig, the 12th of the Chinese zodiac animals. According to chinesenewyear.net, the Jade Emperor decided the order of the zodiac according to the order the animals showed up to his party.

“Pig was late because he overslept. Another story says that a wolf destroyed his house. He had to rebuild his home before he could set off.” Since pig arrived last, he was put in the 12th spot.

» Asia welcomes Year of the Pig with banquets, temple visits

Pigs are considered a symbol of wealth in Chinese culture.

Asia welcomed the lunar Year of the Pig on Tuesday with visits to temples, family banquets and the world's biggest travel spree, the Associated Press reported. Celebrations took place throughout the region, from Beijing and Seoul to Hanoi and Singapore.

Google said its doodle also celebrates the tradition of shadow puppetry, which it says “has a special place in the festivities.”

Areas that celebrate the Chinese New Year will be awash in red, a color that symbolizes good luck and is believed to ward off bad luck and beasts in Chinese culture..

Google's doodle tradition began in 1998 when, according to the company itself, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin played around with the corporate logo "to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert."

Now there is an entire team of illustrators bringing biographies, history and interesting tidbits to life on Google’s homepage.

Here is a look back at some of the most popular 2018 doodles we covered: