Google welcomed the summer solstice —the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere— on Wednesday with a doodle by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Visitors to Google’s website (www.google.com) were greeted with “smiling" flowers, with a sun depicted in the second “o" in “Google."
Google celebrated the summer solstice —the longest day of the year— on June 22 with this Doodle drawn by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Clicking on the doodle will lead the visitor to a list of search results for “summer solstice" and “solstice."
An article in the United Kingdom’s
The Guardian said that Murakami’s work is usually known for its appropriation of high art forms such as sculpture, which he then melds with low art themes from pop culture to mass media. “He has produced a variety of contemporary work from 30ft sculptures to his so-called superflat paintings, in which he combines flat graphic imagery and colours to create highly patterned images," the Guardian story said. Murakami has also carried out more commercial endeavors including a close collaboration with fashion designer Marc Jacobs, and in 2008 was included in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people. Also known as Midsummer, the solstice has long held spiritual significance for many, some of whom are drawn to sites such as the stone circle at Stonehenge to celebrate.
Solstice is longest day, not hottest The
National Geographic said that, while the Northern Hemisphere receives more sunlight than on any other day of the year, it does not mean the first day of summer is also the hottest day of summer. “If you think about turning up an oven—it takes it a long time to heat up," said Robert Howell, an astronomer at the University of Wyoming. “And after you turn it off, it takes a while for it to cool down. It’s the same with the Earth." But the National Geographic also noted that the summer solstice is recognized and often celebrated in many cultures around the world, in both the past and present. It said the ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramids so that the sun, when viewed from the Sphinx, sets precisely between two of the Pyramids on the summer solstice. The Inca of South America celebrated the summer solstice with a ceremony called Inti Raymi, which included food offerings and sacrifices of animals and maybe even people. Recently, archaeologists discovered the remains of an astronomical observatory in a long-buried Maya city in Guatemala in which the buildings were designed to align with the sun during the solstices. During such times, it said the city’s populace gathered at the observatory to watch as their king appeared to command the heavens. National Geographic also noted Stonehenge in the United Kingdom has been associated with the winter and summer solstices for about 5,000 years. Observers in the center of the standing stones can still watch the summer solstice sun rise over the Heel Stone, which stands just outside Stonehenge’s stone circles. “This year modern-day Druids will gather at Stonehenge to celebrate the solstice for the first time as members of an officially recognized religion in the U.K., following a controversial vote by the national Charity Commission for England and Wales last fall," it said.
— TJD, GMA News 
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