One of the biggest celebrations for the Muslim community all over the world is known as Eid.
The noteworthy events on Eid are the Eidi (the tradition of gifting cash to children and families members by older relatives or family friends), the mouth-watering homemade dishes including sweet rice desserts, ketupat, biryani and knafeh, visiting friends and extended family, wearing the special outfits bought for this occasion and so much more.
My favourite part about Eid is the happy atmosphere that you have when your close ones visit your place. You get to see a lot of friends and family on Eid whom you were not able to meet for a long time. It is like a vacation for people to go back home to their loved ones and celebrate the joyous occasion of Eid together.
I was lucky enough to get my term break during the occasion of Eid and visit my family back home. No other thing is comparable to celebrating such an important day with your family. I got to see my school friends and family who are all studying in different other countries and spent an amazing time reminiscing the memories of our earlier Eid days. The delicious homemade cuisine was waiting for me to devour and I had a joyous time with my extended family as well.
I think Eid away from home must be quite hard on other international Muslim students as the pangs of homesickness start to sink in and there is also this fear of missing out on these important events with their family back home. But as Sydney is a very diversified city, you don’t actually miss out a lot on the celebration of Eid as universities are also celebrating our culture and provide us a great student experience. You get to make new friends during the celebration who at one point becomes as close as your family as you get used to the life living abroad and more acceptable and understanding towards the cultural differences between each other.
Thank you to our Diploma student, who has requested to remain anonymous while sharing their story.
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