--- title: Google Doodle Celebrates Nowruz, the Persian New Year description: With a Doodle that featured fluttering butterflies and bees buzzing around hyacinth flowers, Google marked the coming of Nowruz canonical: https://time.com/4708771/google-doodle-nowruz-kazakhstan/ author: Joseph Hincks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-22T02:49:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:42:06.915Z og:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Nowruz, the Persian New Year og:description: Nowruz heralds the return of spring and the start of a new year for people of Persian ancestry og:url: https://time.com/4708771/google-doodle-nowruz-kazakhstan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4178d98ec4ac827e/6988bf53bc6cfcf7d03e096f/nowruz-2017-kazakhstan-5731651570106368-hp2x.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: nowruz-2017-kazakhstan-5731651570106368-hp2x og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Nowruz, the Persian New Year twitter:description: Nowruz heralds the return of spring and the start of a new year for people of Persian ancestry twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4178d98ec4ac827e/6988bf53bc6cfcf7d03e096f/nowruz-2017-kazakhstan-5731651570106368-hp2x.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Doodle Celebrates Nowruz, the Persian New Year by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Mar 22, 2017 2:49 AM UTC  Goodle Doodle celebrating Nowruz, or Persian New Year Goodle Doodle celebrating Nowruz, or Persian New YearGoogle Doodle by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Mar 22, 2017 2:49 AM UTC With a Doodle that featured fluttering butterflies and bees buzzing around tulips Google on Wednesday marked the coming of Nowruz. A compound of the Persian words _now_ for new and _ruz_ for day, Nowruz celebrations have heralded the return of spring and the start of a new year for people of Persian ancestry for more than 3,000 years. The festivities, [according](https://www.google.com/doodles/nowruz-2017-kazakhstan) to Google, can last up to two weeks and start at the advent of the spring equinox — when nights begin shortening and days lengthening. While Wednesday’s Doodle was only displayed in Kazakhstan, Nowruz is celebrated by Iranian and Turkic peoples around the world. Traditionally it is a time for cleaning house and buying new clothes, visiting friends and neighbors, and feasting on special foods. Celebrations of Nowruz in Kazakhstan — where it is known as Nauryz — feature feasts and musical performances inside felt yurts and games played around a large hanging swing called an Altybakan, [according](http://visitkazakhstan.kz/en/about/145/) to the country’s national tourism website. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4708771/google-doodle-nowruz-kazakhstan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4708771/google-doodle-nowruz-kazakhstan/"},"headline":"Google Doodle Celebrates Nowruz, the Persian New Year","datePublished":"2017-03-22T02:49:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:42:06.915Z","description":"Nowruz heralds the return of spring and the start of a new year for people of Persian ancestry","url":"https://time.com/4708771/google-doodle-nowruz-kazakhstan/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google Doodle","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4178d98ec4ac827e/6988bf53bc6cfcf7d03e096f/nowruz-2017-kazakhstan-5731651570106368-hp2x.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph Hincks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4178d98ec4ac827e/6988bf53bc6cfcf7d03e096f/nowruz-2017-kazakhstan-5731651570106368-hp2x.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"nowruz-2017-kazakhstan-5731651570106368-hp2x","caption":"Goodle Doodle celebrating Nowruz, or Persian New Year","creditText":"Google Doodle","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4708771/google-doodle-nowruz-kazakhstan/","name":"Google Doodle Celebrates Nowruz, the Persian New Year"}}]}] ```