Visitors to Google's homepage (www.google.com) were greeted with a doodle of a young girl riding a – you guessed it – a wooden horse, and a boy with a lantern and firecrackers.
Clicking on the doodle will take the visitor to a Google Search Results page for "Chinese New Year 2014."
In the Philippines, preparations by Filipinos and Chinese alike for the Lunar New Year peaked this week.
Manila's Chinatown district had been busy in past days with shoppers looking for lucky food and charms.
On Thursday, groups started performing the traditional dragon dance to welcome the New Year, even as several stores opened early in anticipation of a last-minute customer rush.
Several people bought round fruits, sticky tikoy and even small plants believed to bring good luck and wealth, radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported.
A report on UK's The Independent said the celebration usually begins on Chinese New Year's Eve, which marks the end of the Year of the Snake.
"At Chinese New Year people traditionally wear red clothes and give children 'lucky money' contained in red envelopes. The color red symbolises fire to drive away bad luck," it added.
Families also reunite and gather at each other's homes to celebrate and eat together.
Households thoroughly clean the house to sweep away ill fortune and make way for good luck.
"Those born in the Year of the Horse are believed to be cheerful, skillful with money, perceptive and witty. Famous people born in this year include actress Halle Berry, Rembrandt and singer Aretha Franklin," the report added. — LBG, GMA News
source: gmanetwork.com
