New Year celebrations may be over for the west and other followers of the Gregorian calendar, but for billions of others on the other side of the world, the party has yet to begin. Here to help is Google, which created a new microsite in honor of the Year of the Rooster. “With global interest in the Lunar Calendar growing every year, we wanted to bring people together by celebrating six Lunar New Year traditions from around the world at https://g.co/lunarnewyear over the next few weeks,” Google wrote in a blog post.
From Wednesday to Monday, Google will be unlocking one new page a day to help you prepare for the end of the Year of the Monkey, and the beginning of the Year of the Rooster. On Wednesday, you’re asked to “Dust the house for a fresh new beginning,” and clicking on the “Play now” button takes you to a fun little video of, what else, a rooster cleaning a house.
Over the course of the next few days, however, you will be able to “pick out your favorite reunion dishes and learn the meaning behind each one, work together with your friends to perform a digital dragon dance, draw your own New Year couplets to share with loved ones, cast a “Lo Hei” blessing by virtually shredding food (far less messy), and finally launch your own sky lantern high into cyberspace to bring the Lunar New Year celebrations to a close.” You can also share each day’s lesson on social media, be it Twitter, Facebook, or Google Plus.
Google is staying relatively tight-lipped about what else we have to look forward to before the Lunar New Year is upon us, as they “don’t want to ruin the surprise.” But if you’re looking for another New Year to celebrate, this may be your strategy.
