Skip to content
Library
Practice
Games
Media Center
Printables
Courses
Level Test
Chat
Conjugation
Word of the Day
Writing Practice
ConlangHub
Blog.txt
Talk to Us
Ra's al-Sanah al-Miladiyyah — Competition
Arabic
competition/games/arabic/competitions/ras-al-sanahAsia/Riyadh
Opens in 106 days

Ra's al-Sanah al-Miladiyyah

The Gregorian New Year in Arab cities is a night of fireworks, concerts, countdowns, and family messages.

Solar New Year’s Day, celebrated with public fireworks, concerts and family gatherings across major Arab cities.

Opens Jan 1, closes Jan 2 · 48 hours
Advertisement
what Ra's al-Sanah al-Miladiyyah is

Ra's al-Sanah al-Miladiyyah is the Gregorian New Year, marked on the night of 31 December and the first hours of 1 January, not the Hijri New Year. In many Arab capitals and resort cities, the celebration is urban and public: people book restaurants, hotel galas, and rooftop parties, then gather near major landmarks for the countdown. Dubai's Burj Khalifa and surrounding Downtown district are among the best-known sites for giant fireworks and fountain shows, while Cairo hotels along the Nile and Beirut's nightlife districts stage concerts and late dinners. Streets fill before midnight, phones come out for videos, and television channels run live countdown coverage from several cities at once.

At midnight, people usually exchange phrases such as سنة جديدة سعيدة and كل عام وأنتم بخير, hug relatives, and send voice notes or WhatsApp messages before trying to call friends over the noise. There is no single New Year's dish across the Arab world; home gatherings usually serve local festive food, while hotels and clubs put on fixed dinner menus, dessert buffets, and celebration cake before or after the countdown. Fireworks are the visual centerpiece, but 1 January itself is often quieter: families sleep late after the previous night, then meet for lunch, coffee, or seaside walks on the Corniche, and children may spend the afternoon in malls or waterfront parks.

what you'll learn5 domains

The pack has 36 words spread across these domains.

New Year wishesWords and phrases people say at midnight and in messages on 1 January.
Countdown momentsVocabulary for 31 December night, the countdown, midnight, and the quieter daytime on 1 January.
City landmarksWords for downtown districts, corniches, hotels, rooftops, and waterfronts where people gather.
Concert nightVocabulary for live singers, DJs, loudspeakers, and the entertainment that runs through the evening.
Family visitsWords for relatives, calls, group photos, and the lunches or coffees people share on New Year's Day.
the runthree rounds, about three minutes, unlimited practice
Round 1 · MatchPair the word with its meaning. Six pairs, one attempt each.
Round 2 · SpellType the word you hear, accents and all. Beginners see the meaning and complete the word instead.
Round 3 · MeaningSix questions on what happens at Ra's al-Sanah al-Miladiyyah and what it is called.
how scoring works
How you are ranked
1AccuracyEvery correct answer counts the same. Anything you leave unanswered counts as wrong.
2Time, only to break tiesTime is read only when two people have the same accuracy. It never beats a better score.
For example
1100%3:41Marta
2100%4:02Joan — same score, slower
397%2:10Núria — fastest, still third
Two separate boards
BeginnerAdvanced

Same words in both. Beginner gets more help: matching and completing. Advanced listens and spells it out unaided. Pick it in practice; it locks when you take the scored run.

One scored run

Practise as often as you like, all year. The scored run happens once, while the competition is open, and cannot be retaken.