National Day – Celebrating 40 years!

This momentous occasion celebrated the joining of initially 6 different emirates (equivalent to principalities):

• Abu Dhabi (the capital)
• Ajman
• Dubai
• Fujairah
• Sharjah
• Umm al-Quwain
• Ras Al-Khaimah (joined the UAE in Feb. 1972)

Each emirate is ruled by a hereditary “emir” with a single national president. The current President of the UAE is Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler since the death of his father, Sheikh Zayed, in 2004.

“As a federation of seven monarchies, whose rulers retain absolute power within their emirates, but with a UAE president, it is neither a constitutional monarchy nor a republic. The emirs choose one of their members to be the president of the federation, but this does not alter the monarchical character of the government of the individual emirates. The constitution is concerned solely with the relations between the emirates as members of the federation, and does not prescribe a constitutional system of government. Islam is the official religion of the UAE, and Arabic is the official language.”<sup>(from Wikipedia)




Now that the brief history lesson is over let’s get on with the celebrations!! I don’t know if I’ve seen a more proud people that then Emiratis! They love their history, their Sheikh and their country! This was our second National Day and as it was the 40th anniversary of their founding we knew it would be a wild celebration! The girls demanded that we host our second annual National Day party as we have a great view of the fireworks (or so we thought – more on that later!)


The actual anniversary of the day was Dec 2, 2011, a friday this year. But the government gave the schools Dec 1st as a holiday as well! Since our weekends are Friday & Saturday, this meant a three day weekend for the celebrations! The party would be on the 2nd the girls said since that was the actual holiday. But there would actually be 40 days of celebrations around the city culminating on Dec 2nd. Like I said they are a very proud people!</sup>


The celebrations began along the Corniche with boat races, an air show and 
fireworks on Thursday Dec 1st! It was really exciting. All of this could be seen from our balcony – we had a front row seat to it all! I was getting really excited for our party! And it wasn’t even the actual day yet!!!

 Dec 2nd arrived and the party preparations began! The air show occurred again that afternoon! We dropped our decorating and ran to the balcony – I felt like a little kid anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus! The girls began work on their UAE flag dessert created out of cupcakes! And the food arrived on time – Arabic of course!

As the sun began to set and the lights in the colors of the UAE flag (red, green, black & white) lit the buildings, I witnessed the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen – it rivaled those we’ve seen in Florida. For a moment I felt I was witnessing a sign from God – Go Celebrate everything you have accomplished in these short 40 years!! It was a special moment!

Now the party could begin!
We live just 2 blocks from the Corniche, which is the promenade that runs along the bay, and where all of the city’s activities take place! So of course this is where everyone travels to! The cars had begun heading towards the Corniche earlier in the day, but as the evening progressed the traffic jam was incredible. Our brave guests walked or took taxis to reach our place.

All of the cars are heading towards the Corniche – none heading back the other way!

Traffic all backed up heading towards the Corniche!

Everyone arrived safely and we enjoyed chatting, watching the festivities from above, and anxiously waiting for the fireworks. The festivities taking place below were joyous but not rowdy. Truly a peaceful celebration – it was fun observing the Emirati’s passion for their heritage!

The starting times of many celebrations here are rather vague. We weren’t sure exactly when the fireworks would begin. But we waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing. The girls began texting their friends to see if they could find out what was going on. Still nothing.