Not one, but five days to celebrate the UAE flag

Huge UAE flag is placed on the facade of Jumeirah hotel in Dubai on the eve of National Flag Day. Photo by Neeraj Murali.

The Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development has announced five days of activities from November 3-7 in the UAE under the slogan, "Raise it high.. Raise it Proud".
'Flag City' will open at Abu Dhabi Mall and Festival City Mall in Dubai from Thursday 10am to 10pm till Saturday.
Celebrations will include storytelling about the flag, its history, tales about its colours and its value in the minds of citizens and wise leadership.
The 'Flag City' also includes a reading corner in addition to competitions, gifts, face paintings and a drawing area for children.
The UAE flag will be hoisted daily at 5pm.
Moreover, the ministry will hold competitions in 10 radio stations in Arabic, English and Urdu from Thursday.
The contest is open to everyone with 50 prizes of Dh1,000 each.
Radio stations include Ras Al Khaimah Radio, Noor Dubai, Emirate FM, Abu Dhabi Koran Radio, the Arabian Radio Network including Radio City Indian in Urdu and Virgin in English, Radio Al Rabea Ajman and Radio Umm Al Quwain.
A busy first day
Activities will start on Thursday with the Flag Walkathon at 9.40am. The walkathon is expected to unite more than 2,000 people, including senior officials, various partners, writers and artists, who will walk from Al Jazira Club to the National Theatre in Abu Dhabi.
Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development will then hoist the UAE flag with the participants of the walkathon at 11am, before opening the flag exhibition of works done by UAE children and artist at the National Theatre.
The 'Flag operetta' by Emirati singers and Flag Songs album will be distributed to all institutions and clubs starting from 11.30am.
Shaikh Nahyan will then launch the electronic initiative through the UAE flag website "Raise it high" at 11.50am, aiming at the participation of over three million people. The initiative ends on 10 December.
Sing it loud, sing it proud
As part of Flag Day activities, the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development launched the "UAE Flag Day album" to provide all government and private bodies, schools, universities and media institutions. The album features 17 patriotic songs by Emirati and Arab singers, including six new songs produced by the ministry to be broadcasted for the first time by Eitha Al Menhali, children's choir; Nabil Shouail, Faisal Al Jassim and Talal Al Saidalani. The ministry has dedicated copies of the album to all local radios and televisions.
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com