It was a fine finish for the fast.
Flatlands elementary school students at PS 203 ate cookies and gave cookies to their fellow students at their school’s first-ever Eid al-Fitr celebration on June 18. The English-as-a-Second-Language teacher who helped organize the event said it was a chance for the school to celebrate all holidays the kids observe throughout the year.
“We have students from many different cultures at the school,” said Dina Soliman. “It feels right to do something to honor every students’ holiday.”
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, during which adherents fast for the day until sundown. Festivities include a big feast, but also donating food and money to those less fortunate, and giving gifts. At PS 203, Eid-celebrating students first headed to the gym for a talk on what the holiday is all about — with an emphasis on the moral lessons, rather that the theological.
“The good-services part was highlighted more than the religious aspects,” said Soliman.
The students then ate cookies they brought for each other, but also mixed and matched different batches of cookies and took them back to their classes in gift baskets, in keeping with the giving tradition. This gave students who don’t celebrate Eid al-Fitr the chance to partake in the fun, according to Soliman.
“They made really pretty gift baskets. All classes had a chance to celebrate,” she said.
Around 80 kids came to the celebration, and some girls also got henna temporary tattoos — a type of body art Muslims often do on special occasions.
The source ask that we add the Muslim American Society funded the event through donations, and that the Bay Ridge bakery Cocoa Grinder donated around 200 cookies.
