purim 2007 google doodle

Today (March 4) is a Jewish holiday called Purim, it "commemorates the deliverance from Haman's plot to annihilate all the Jews of the Persian Empire, who had survived the Babylonian captivity, after Persia had conquered Babylonia who in turn had destroyed the First Temple and dispersed the Jewish people; as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther". [Wikipedia] You can find this logo on Google Israel's homepage.

In celebration of the holiday, people would dress up in masks, which replaced the second "G", though it looks more like the number "8". And the "L" is substituted by a Purim gragger, "used when Haman's name is mentioned during the reading of the Megillah, as tradition dictates, to blot out the name of evil".