Classroom lesson 路 Festival馃嚫馃嚘 Saudi Arabia

Saudi National Day

A whole country dressed in green every September 23rd

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Saudi National Day is celebrated every year on 23 September. It marks the day in 1932 when the country was officially named the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The whole country dresses in green - the colour of the flag - and the streets fill with parades, music, fireworks and family parties.

Tell me more

On National Day, schools, shops and homes are decorated with green flags, green balloons, green lights and big paper palm trees. Some children paint their faces green and white. Some draw small flags on their cheeks. There are parades through every town and giant fireworks shows in the big cities.

Special performances happen across the country. The Ardha sword dance is performed in town squares. Camel parades clip-clop through Riyadh and Jeddah. Falconers display their birds. Schools put on plays and concerts. Many families gather for a huge meal at home, often kabsa or mandi.

National Day is also a time when people celebrate the things that make up Saudi life - the deserts, the palm trees, the Red Sea, the mountains, the food, the calligraphy, the poetry. Children at school often work on big projects beforehand, like maps of Saudi regions, model camels and giant flag mosaics.

It is not the only national-themed holiday. A newer one called 'Founding Day' is held on 22 February, remembering the original founding of the first Saudi state back in 1727 - nearly 300 years ago. So there are now two big national celebrations in the calendar.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01What is something your country uses to identify itself - a colour, a song, a symbol? Why that one?
  2. 02How might a country with many different regions celebrate together?
  3. 03If you designed a 'class flag' for your school, what would be on it?
Try this

Classroom activity

Design a 'Saudi National Day' poster as a class. Include the green flag, a date palm, a falcon, a camel, an oryx, a mountain and the Red Sea. Each pupil draws one element. Put them together into one big shared mural.