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The couple went on a motorbike journey from the Red Sea city of Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia to Hail in the north to join celebrations marking the Founding Day annually celebrated on February 22, according to the Saudi television Al Arabiya. Image Credit: Picture from the video

Cairo: An Indian traveller and his Saudi wife celebrated the kingdom’s Founding Day, a major national event, in a special way.

The couple went on a motorbike journey from the Red Sea city of Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia to Hail in the north to join celebrations marking the Founding Day annually celebrated on February 22, according to the Saudi television Al Arabiya.

The trip took around one day, the man said.

Amal Ahmad said in a video aired by Al Arabiya that her spouse (name not mentioned) had made several journeys inside and outside Saudi Arabia and that she has joined in several of them.

Last year, Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz declared February 22 as the kingdom’s Founding Day and an official holiday.

The day commemorates the founding of the first Saudi state in 1727 by Imam Mohammad bin Saud.

Saudi nationals this week took to the streets wearing the traditional Saudi costumes in celebration of the Founding Day, marked for the second straight year.

Major event planned

Public buildings across the kingdom lit up in green, the colour of the Saudi flag as part of massive nationwide celebrations of the occasion.

The flag and the Founding Day posters were also displayed across the streets.

Authorities in the capital Riyadh designated four venues in the city for the people to attend various events held on Wednesday and Thursday to mark the occasion.

The events featured heritage shows, costumes, storytelling, a photography tent and the Saudi coffee, which is a national drink.

On Friday, the Saudi Ministry of Culture plans a major event, dubbed the “Founding March” in Riyadh .

Around 4,800 performers will participate in the 90-minute march featuring a military parade by the Interior Ministry, folk arts and artistic forms of Saudi cultural values, the Saudi news agency SPA reported.

The huge march will also feature eight creative carriages, each recounting a key element of the Saudi culture linked to the kingdom’s history over the past three centuries.

The carriages celebrate palm dates, sailing boats, Saudi coffee, textiles, local music, Arabic calligraphy, Arabian horses and green oases of the kingdom.