Mother's Day | Google wishes mothers with a doodle

It's the second Sunday of May and Google is wishing all the mothers with its characteristic doodle on Mother's Day. In the animated doodle on the Google home page the two Os in the Google logo turn into kids and give their mother - the second G - a purple flower.

Google has been celebrating Mother's Day with its doodles for a number of years now and the Mother's Day doodle always has a flower in it.

While Mother's Day is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, it is the second Sunday of May (May 8 in 2011) is most widely celebrated. Anna Marie Jarvis, had started a campaign in 1907 following her mother's death to make Mother's Day a recognised holiday in the US. In 1912 she obtained trademarks for the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day" and established the Mother's Day International Association. US President President Woodrow Wilson signed a law making the holiday official. But Jarvis was disappointed with the commercialisation of the event.

The ancient Greek and Romans also held festivities in honour of their mother goddesses. In Britain and Celtic Europe, goddess Brigid and later St. Brigid were honoured with a Mother's Day in spring.

On March 21, to commemorate the Arab Mother's Day, Google had put up a Mother's Day doodle on its home pages in Arab countries including Egypt, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Libya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Mother's Day is celebrated on different days of the year in different countries of the world, beginning with Norway on the second Sunday of February to December 22 in Indonesia.

For a dozen years, Google has been occasionally swapping its everyday logo for a doodle. The Google doodles, an artistic take on the Google logo, have gained immense popularity over the past few years and the Google doodle team has put out commemorative doodles on numerous events of international or national importance, ranging from news events, civic milestones, birthdays, death anniversaries and important dates in history. Google estimates it has created more than 900 doodles since 1998, with 270 of them running in 2010. Some appear globally, and others are tailored for local markets.

Google doodles have become more animated and interactive in nature and Google seems to be fast doing away with static images for their doodles.

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