On 2 December 1971 six emirates federated, with Ras Al Khaimah joining in February 1972. The anniversary carries two public holidays and is observed with a scale of public display that nothing else in the Emirati year matches: fireworks over every corniche, the Al Fursan aerobatic team, light projections onto the Burj Khalifa and the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, and cars decorated with flags and portraits of the rulers for the whole week.
It has been officially styled Eid al Etihad — the Union feast — in recent years.
No attendance figure is collected in this pass.
For planning, the fixed date is the point: National Day, the Grand Prix and the Rugby Sevens fall within weeks of each other in the best weather of the year, and together they make December the most expensive and most heavily booked month in the UAE.
PlanningFixed on 2–3 December and the one major UAE date that does not move — which is why it anchors the December travel peak.
Dates
computed from the rule
Computed from the recurrence rule we record for this entry, not copied from a listing. A date marked ~ comes from a calendar conversion and the observance may fall a day or two either side.