Pastries and other foods are commonly served for Eid. Photo courtesy of Amara Arida

Along with her Arab family, junior Amara Arida celebrates a year-round holiday known as Eid. Eid is a holiday that takes place once a year but shifts ten days back when it reoccurs. If it were to take place on December tenth, it would move back to December first the recurring year.

During the holiday, you are to celebrate your loved ones that have passed away while having dinner with your family members you are surrounded by now. A lot of pastries and desserts are served on this day along with some traditions. Those include giving money to the children of the household and some will even go door to door asking for money. For attire, children select new clothing they have yet to wear.

While as for Amara, she doesn’t follow such traditions while some of her other family members do. Growing up in a family that consists of heavily religious people and some not so much, Amara celebrated the holidays but with a different take on them.

As she now lives further from her religious side of her family, there has been a lack of religious practice during the holiday as her grandparents are more heavily religious and influenced the younger family members such as herself. When surrounded by her cousins and grandparents she would usually attend the Mosque with them on this holiday where they would practice their prayer but now it has become inconsistent due to the long distance.

Through the eyes of Amara Arida, her family tends to stick to basic traditions. They all share one big feast while discussing past memories and sharing gifts that tend to be money.

“I like Eid because all of our family gets together and we all share food and how much we love each other,” Amara said.

In conclusion, the purpose of this holiday is to relish in the past of your loved ones while enjoying the presence of your family members.