Today’s Google Doodle is naturally all about St Patrick or, more accurately, the day of celebration we have in his honour.
St Patrick was credited as being both Welsh and Irish, a slave and a missionary, but St Patrick’s Day has come to mean something completely different than what the man himself was all about.
Not ushering snakes from Ireland. Not spreading the good word. Rather the colour green, shamrocks and parades, parades, parades!
All over the planet, major landmarks are going green – with Tourism Ireland again using the opportunity to market the country all over the world – and Google is doffing its cap towards Ireland’s patron saint in the best way it knows: with a doodle.
Irish influence
Today’s doodle is by Chris O’Hara, an Irish animator currently working in Los Angeles. In the spirit of the day, O’Hara chose to paint the logo green with a little assistance from a friendly shamrock.
It emerges from the ‘L’ and swarms the other letters much like Irish tourists reaching out into the wider world.
On that nationality reference, for those unaware, an annual event in the town of Banwen in Wales is held in St Patrick’s honour, with some historians believing he comes from there.
So did this Welshman really banish all the snakes from Ireland 1,600 years ago? Probably not. As the ever-wonderful Popular Science wrote last year, Ireland has never really been a snake haunt.
As an island, most snake breeds could never have made it here. Those that can swim don’t really like our cold waters, and The Ice Age rendered our little island almost entirely inhospitable to reptiles, too.
Still, any excuse to party, eh?
Main image via Shutterstock
