Dubai: The search giant Google is celebrating today the 45th UAE National Day with a "doodle" showing the United Arab Emirates flag, the national colours and the number 45.
A click on the doodle leads to a page that explains the National Day (Arabic: اليوم الوطني; Yawm al watani), celebrated on 2nd December each year in the United Arab Emirates.
It marks the four decades of achievements after the UAE's Union Day between the six emirates which was followed by the joining of the seventh emirate, Ras Al Khaimah, in 1972.
The doodle is then linked to a page which states: “Today marks the celebration of separate emirates uniting under one flag in 1971 to create the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Located on the northeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, the history of the Emirates — or lands under the leadership of a shaikh — date back thousands of years.
“This year marks the 45th year of unity and is commemorated with a three-day national holiday full of special events, concerts, parades, and fireworks.”
In 2005, the Google’s doodle showed the two “oo’s” being replaced by Qasr Al Hosn, the old royal palace in Abu Dhabi. Google uses a different doodle each year to mark the UAE National Day.
Doodles, usually called a “scribble” or just random and abstract lines, are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning.
