Page title

Salim Youssef, President of the Australian Arab Association, runs the annual Multicultural Eid Carnival.

"The beauty of Western Australian Eid is in enjoying the Multicultural Eid carnival. This is a social event, a showcase of multicultural Australia, an icon of Muslim unity in diversity, providing a platform for celebration, acceptance and peace on a grand scale.

"Muslims from all backgrounds, ethnic communities, mosques and societies gather at the carnival to display their colourful costumes, scrumptious food, songs, folk dances and other displays within the bounds of the Islamic way of life.

"Eid to me means sharing thankfulness and love with family and friends. Eid is normally a time for Muslims to get together and celebrate.

"We begin celebrations with morning congregational prayers, followed by food and exchanging of gifts with family and friends. Muslims also share their food and money with the poor so that they can celebrate too.

"But of course last Eid was one of sadness due to COVID-19. We had to cancel the carnival as families could not celebrate together. The overall feeling was one of loneliness as people could not celebrate together.

"We hope for the best with Eid al-Adha this year."

​​​Schoolteacher Fathia Ibrahim loves celebrating Eid, especially with her mother.

"For me, there's a lot of excitement in waking up early and waking up all my family members. There's joy in getting ready, putting on fresh new clothes and rushing to the park where hundreds or thousands of people like me are coming for the Eid prayer.

"People from so many different cultures but on that day they all share that one and same tradition which is celebrating Eid.

"Kids are running around playing, friends are catching up, and the exchange of "Eid Mubarak" (an Arabic phrase for Happy Eid) is everywhere.

"The view of people filing into rows to offer the Eid prayer is another amazing wonder for me.

"After the prayer, while everyone has their own traditions, I personally spend the first half of the day catching up with family and friends. I take the kids around the fun rides that are usually offered on the day.

"The smiles on their faces is worth so much and it creates long-term sweet memories for them.

"The later part of my day is a really special time because I get to visit my mother with all my brothers and sisters and our children.

"This is another great blessing I had in Australia because it is the first time in my life I am living with all my siblings as one family. So my mother gets to be very happy meeting all her grandchildren and giving out all kinds of treats on that day.

"Eid al-Adha is one of the important times in my life because it is a time to strengthen my worship and submission to my creator. Not only that but also a time of joy and happiness with all Muslims of all cultures together as one."

Safiah has a background in film, documentary and photography and is currently finishing her Masters of Arts at Curtin University and completing her film project. 

"Growing up I always thought I wouldn't be as excited for Eid compared to when I was a kid, but this hasn't been the case.

"For me, Eid is waking up to your dad ironing his favourite clothes, your mum walking around with a face mask on, your sister frantically baking (without any prior experience but it's a blessing to eat something sweet as your first food of the day), your brother having a smoke in the backyard, your random uncle that crashed the night before, and guests rocking up at 8am, after walking from Eid prayer from the Islamic school which was so conveniently close to your home (dad's idea).

"All these small things add up and make Eid, Eid.

"I get excited every year—twice a year thankfully—where I get to taste my sisters failed baking experiment and spend time with family."

Coming from a large family, Eid was always an important part in getting Safiah's family together to celebrate.

"It means we get to acknowledge the places we've come from, the people that we are and the people we pray and hope to be.

"Eid isn't just a day where we get to celebrate twice a year, it's much more important that. Having a Yamatji-Badimaya background and also being Persian meant that Eid had to signify the different aspects of both of those identities and cultures.

"It meant acknowledging the connection with the lands we have in Geraldton to Mount Magnet while also celebration our religious and cultural identities.

"Sometimes on Eid we would drive up to Geraldton and visit my great grandmother's grave, to thank her for her sacrifices. For some people this might be a sad and gloomy activity on a day of celebration, but for us it wasn't. We get to pray and spend time on the lands she walked, prayed and spent her life on.

"For most Eids we do a huge picnic, with all the people in the family and after that, as a sign of respect, we go to our older aunty's house, where she hosts dinner for everyone. She's nearly 80, but she still loves doing it.

"It's a really special time for all of us."