These are recent google doodles that showed in other countries recently, so I didn't see them.
February 11 was Lantern Festival 2017 (China, Hong Kong)
The Lantern Festival arrives on the first full moon of the Chinese calendar and marks the last day of traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. The lanterns are meant to ward off evil spirits and bring families closer together to watch as they flood the streets. It is one of the most celebrated events of the year, with carnivals featuring impressive lantern displays, lion and dragon dances, artistic performances and of course, tangyuan, a soupy dumpling staple.
During the festival, children carry lanterns riddled with riddles and sayings to temples at night, a tradition that traces back 2,000 years to the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The lanterns symbolize a letting go of one’s past self and renewal in the new year.
February 11 was also Lantern Festival 2017 (Taiwan).
The Lantern Festival arrives on the first full moon of the Chinese calendar and marks the last day of traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. The lanterns are meant to ward off evil spirits and bring families closer together to watch as they flood the streets. Taiwan’s most celebrated Lantern Festival features lanterns that play their own theme music and tower over 10 meters tall, with many featuring ornate designs that correspond with the signs of the zodiac.
Taiwan began recognizing this Chinese festival in 1990 as an effort to spread the traditional folklore to the masses. One of the most important events that takes place on this evening is the Fengpao ceremony, where thousands of firecrackers are burned and hung in the Wumiao Temple. The lantern event and the fire ceremony together are known as “Fireworks in the south, sky lanterns in the north” and are meant to call in wishes for the new year.
February 9 was Carmen Miranda's 108th Birthday.
Carmen Miranda is a rare example of a triple threat: talented at acting, singing, and dancing. Born in Portugal and raised in Brazil, Miranda took to the performing arts at a young age. Her father's love of opera and her mother's support led her to pursue a career in show business. Inspired by baianas, Afro-Brazilian fruit vendors, Miranda donned a "fruit hat" when she performed. It would become her signature as her star soared, first in Brazil and then, worldwide.
Miranda’s big break happened following her performance at the National Institute of Music. She landed an audition at a recording studio where she was immediately signed to put out a single. Miranda’s first album was released in 1929, and was immensely popular among Brazilians. Her performing style helped samba gain respect and a place in the Brazilian (and later, the world) spotlight.
By the time she moved to the United States in 1939, Miranda was a national star in Brazil and had the power to ensure her band could travel with her. Hollywood's famous Garuman's Chinese Theatre invited her to leave her hand prints in the cement in 1941, the first Latin American to do so.
Today, we celebrate Carmen Miranda on what would be her 108th birthday.
Feburay 9 was also Aletta Jacobs’ 163rd Birthday.
Aletta Jacobs was a woman of many firsts. Growing up in the Netherlands in the 1800s, she watched the profound impact her father, a doctor, had on his patients’ lives. She longed to do the same, but she knew it wouldn’t be easy – no Dutch woman had ever studied medicine. Jacobs didn’t let that stop her.
Since girls weren’t permitted to attend high school, Jacobs pursued her studies independently and went on to pass the assistant chemist exam in 1870. That was as far as most women could go at the time, but Jacobs was determined to go further. So she petitioned and was granted permission to attend classes at the University of Groningen in 1871. She graduated with a medical degree in 1879, becoming the first female physician in the Netherlands.
During her time as a doctor, she again focused on achieving progress for women. Despite strong opposition from her colleagues, she worked to make contraceptives more widely available and established the world’s first birth control clinic. She also became largely involved in the women’s suffrage movement, leaving her medical practice in 1903 to focus on winning the right to vote. She helped do just that in 1919, the same year she co-founded the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
Today, on what would’ve been Jacobs’ 163rd birthday, we celebrate all that she did to pave the way for those who came after her.
Feburay 6 was Pramoedya Ananta Toer's 92nd Birthday.
It might be said that Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s pen was his sword. Known as ‘Pramoedya’ or “Pram,’ this Indonesian writer was a proponent of human rights and freedom of expression who fought against Japanese and Dutch colonialism in his country.
Born on February 6, 1925, in a village called Blora on Java, Pram was exposed to political activism through his father, and came to journalism while working as a stenographer for a Japanese news agency. Incarcerated from 1947–1949 for being “anti-colonial,” he wrote his first novel,The Fugitive behind bars.
His novels throughout the 1950s continued to hold a mirror up to the impact of colonialism. Following a coup and suspected of ties to the Indonesian communist party, Pram was sent to the Indonesian island of Buru in 1969 where he spent over a decade as a political prisoner. When refused pen and paper, Pram turned to oral storytelling, sharing a story with his fellow prisoners about a Javanese boy named Minke who spurns Indonesia’s hierarchical society in the last years of Dutch colonization. Granted a typewriter towards the end of his term, he brought Minke’s tale to life through the four-volume Buru Quartet, his most well-known work. In fact, the books were smuggled out of Indonesia by Pram's friend, a German priest, to avoid being taken or destroyed, and have now been translated into more than 20 languages worldwide.
Today’s Doodle celebrates Pram’s birthday with an animation of the industrious novelist seated at his typewriter, hard at work.
February 5 was 100th Anniversary of the Mexican Constitution.
Today’s Doodle was created to honor the centennial of Mexico’s Constitution Day. It’s been one hundred years since Mexico’s leadership drafted the Constitution of Mexico, the foundational document that marked the end of the revolution. Led by revolutionary Venustiano Carranza, the constitutional congress set out to clearly lay out the rights of Mexico’s people, setting a standard followed in years to come by other countries worldwide.
Febuary 4 was Sri Lanka National Day 2017.
On February 4th, the island country of Sri Lanka celebrates 69 years of independence from British rule. Formerly known as Ceylon, the country attained self-rule in 1948 while remaining a British dominion. This continued until 1972 when it became a republic and was renamed Sri Lanka.
Observed as a national holiday, the main celebration usually takes place in the capital of Colombo, with dances, parades, and a flag raising ceremony and national address led by the president. As it is a day for remembrance as well as celebration, the president also observes two minutes of silence in memory of Sri Lanka’s national heroes, past and present.
