Google Doodle celebrates Arab Mother's Day with digital card-making tool

The search engine is allowing users to create cards to send to their mothers by email

Google celebrates Arab Mother's Day. Courtesy Google 

Google is marking Arab Mother's Day with a special Google Doodle that allows users to create their own virtual cards.

Anyone using the search engine in the Middle East and North Africa region on Sunday will have the option to test out the interactive feature, and create a greeting card to mark Mother's Day.

Much like traditional card crafting, Google’s online option allows users to stick everyday items such as pasta shells and buttons on to the front of a card, alongside a personalised message, which can then be sent to their mothers via email or social media.

Arab Mother’s Day is celebrated each year on the first day of spring, a tradition started in Egypt in 1957 by journalist Mustafa Amin. He first mentioned the idea in a 1943 book, and was inspired to introduce a day to celebrate mothers after hearing the story of a woman who devoted her life to raising her son, only for him to marry and leave her alone.

Amin wrote to then-president Gamal Abdel Nasser to request the day be made official following his campaign, leading to the first official Egyptian Mother’s Day on March 21, 1957. The idea was slowly adopted by a number of other countries across the Arab world.

Mother’s Day is celebrated at different times around the world, depending on which country you live in. In Australia, the US and Canada, for example, Mother’s Day is marked each year on the second Sunday of May.

In the UK, it is exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday.

Try the Google Doodle tool yourself here.

See other Google Doodles made for the Mena region: