Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Egyptian expatriates celebrate Eid in Saudi Arabia with an Egyptian spirit; many of them keen to follow the same traditions that they keep in their home country. Eid in Egypt has traditions that might not exist in Saudi Arabia, but the Egyptian expatriates create their own atmosphere to such they celebrate Eid as similar to what they do in Egypt. One of the custom is the Eid Cookies (kahk) because they consider it the main theme of Eid, while many also decorate their homes with balloons and getting new outfits. They meet family and friends and go to parks with their Egyptian friends. Ragaa Alem, an Egyptian expatriate who lives in Dammam, believes that Eid in Egyptian is different because they spend it with family. "The Eid in Egypt has different flavor, you can see the joy, delight everywhere. In Egypt we have a tradition in Eid, we usually bake our cookies (kahk), here it's not available so I bake it at home, because it's the main theme of our Eid," she said. She added, "It's so sad we don't have any of our family here in Saudi, so I and my husband usually hang out with our friends, we get the kahk and sweets and meet in any park," she said. Ragaa said, "When you visit any Egyptian's home during Eid you will find big plates in the middle of the table full of sweets and kahk, and they will always treat kahk to their visitors," she said. Aya Nabil, a female Egyptian expatriate who lives in Jeddah, believes that Egyptians seek the spirit of the Eid in Egypt. "We are a big family and friends here in Jeddah, so we follow all our Egyptian Eid traditions, starting from the Eid prayer, then we gather at one home having breakfast together, give the children Eid gifts, and in the afternoon all the children wear their new outfits, and we sometimes go to the mall, or to any park," she said. "Despite that in Egypt you will find kahk in all the homes but from our tradition in Egypt to treat all people kahk, and they must eat it as kind of complimentary," she said. She added, "Egyptian kahk is a main Eid tradition in Egypt, as it's rare to find it here we prepare it at home, sometimes we receive it from our families in Egypt." Amr Mostafa, an Egyptian pharmacist who lives in Jeddah, believes that Egyptian no matter where they are will always have the same Eid traditions. "We usually hang out with our Egyptian friends, in Eid we gather with friends, as we don't have any of our relatives here," he said. "As in Egypt most of Egyptian's eat fish on the first day of Eid, because we don't eat it during Ramadan, we do the same thing here, maybe Eid is different than Egyptian but we still can create our spirit and joy as we are in Egypt," he said.
