It is generally a two day holiday, with December 3rd also a holiday but the second date for the holiday may fall before or after December 2nd depending on what day of the week December 2nd falls on.

As is often the case in the United Arab Emirates, public sectors may get a longer public holiday break for this holiday than workers in the private sector.

The holiday commemorates the United Arab Emirate’s formal nationalisation from the British Protectorate Treaties as a result of the expiration of a British treaty on December 2nd 1971. This lead to the eventual, federal unification of seven sheikhdoms in the former Trucial States in 1971 to form the modern-day country. The first president of the federation was Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Schools in the U.A.E. celebrate National Day by holding national events and celebrations where local children will dress up in the cultural “thoub and “kandoora” and perform the “youlah” and folkloric dances and organize cultural contests.