Google is celebrating St. Patrick's Day today with a homepage doodle that was inspired by the Book of Kells, a 9th-century gospel manuscript.
"Try knot to miss our Book-of-Kells-inspired doodle for St. Patrick's Day," Google tweeted today.
The colorful doodle focused on the "Celtic knots and the Chi Rho [monogram] from the Book of Kells," Google doodler Jennifer Hom told the Washington Post's Comic Riffs.
The Book of Kells, currently housed in the Old Library at Dublin's Trinity College, is "celebrated for its lavish decoration," according to the college. "The manuscript contains the four Gospels in Latin based on a Vulgate text, written on vellum (prepared calfskin), in a bold and expert version of the script known as 'insular majuscule.'"
It is believed that the book was created around the year 800 in the monastery at Kells, County Meath after a Viking raid forced the Columban monks to abandon a monastery on the island of Iona, just off the west coast of Scotland. The college pointed out, however, that "there is no way of knowing if the book was produced wholly at Iona or at Kells, or partially at each location."
The book has been in Dublin since the mid-19th century and was bound in four volumes in 1953, two of which are on display.
Hom told the Post that her doodle includes some elements pulled straight from the Book of Kells. She worked for 40 hours, zooming in "to render those precise Celtic knots." For more, the paper posted a step-by-step breakdown of Hom's process.
Today's holiday, meanwhile, celebrates St. Patrick, who lived during the fifth century and is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. As noted by History.com, he is known for bringing Christianity to the people of Ireland, and his legend has taken on mythic proportions.
"Perhaps the most well known legend is that he explained the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the shamrock," History.com said.
Interestingly, however, the first St. Patrick's Day parade was actually held in the U.S. in 1762 in New York City, a tradition that continues today. This year's parade kicked off at 11am with NBC executive Francis X. Comerford as the grand marshal.
Today's doodle comes one day after Google selected a winner for its Ireland Doodle 4 Google contest. Patrick Horan, 18, beat 75 other finalists to have his drawing featured on the Google Ireland homepage yesterday.
For more on previous St. Patrick's Day Google doodles, see the video below.
For more on Google's doodles, see the slideshow above. Earlier this week, the company honored origami legend Akira Yoshizawa. One of the company's more popular doodles last year was a playable image in honor of musician Les Paul, which eventually got its own standalone site. The company has also honored Gumby creator Art Clokey, Muppets creator Jim Henson, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, and Intel co-founder Robert Noyce.
In 2011, it was revealed that Google obtained a patent for its popular homepage doodles, covering "systems and methods for enticing users to access a Web site."