Last night people of all nationalities gathered in the Student Union to celebrate Saudi National Day with the newly created Saudi Student Organization.
FeiFei Kong, a grad student from China studying statistics, was prompted by fliers around campus to come experience the Saudi National Day celebration.
It’s no surprise, however, that a majority of the attendants at the celebration were members of the Saudi Student Organization as there are more than 50 international students from Saudi Arabia on campus.
Saudi National Day is a patriotic holiday where Saudis inform others about their culture and celebrate the establishment of Saudi Arabia, graduate student Esmail Alsalen said.
The overall message of the evening was to educate other students about Saudi culture and clear up any misconceptions. Students were able to sample two kinds of dates and Arab coffee while they viewed pictures of Saudi Arabian leaders and landscapes before the entertainment began.
“We give American people an idea about our culture because [many] of them have bad ideas about it, especially about Islam,” Alsalen said.
Last night’s festivities included traditional Saudi music, food, dancing and dress. The male Saudi students wore traditional long white gowns called Thobs and a red-and-white headdresses called Shmaghs with black rings called Egals. The traditional Arab song “Jet Assa’al An Al Halah” (“I Came Here to Ask About You”), was played with an Arab guitar called the Oaar. Meanwhile, two people performed a dance with a gold sword called the Samera on stage and audience members clapped to the beat.
Chicken and rice dishes, salad, hummus and the Arab desert Baqlow were served buffet style although according to Alsalen, “[On Saudi National Day,] we all eat together from the same plate with our hands.”
Omar Bafakeen traveled from Case Western Reserve University to speak about his experiences as a Saudi student in America.
“Some [Saudi students] complain about security [in airports] and when I came here at first it made me upset,” Bafakeen said. “Then I realized it’s a good thing because I live in this country too and I want to be safe.”
Freshman Sahar Sewaid, who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia gave a speech about the status of women in Saudi Arabia. Sewaid gave her speech to clear up the misconception that women living in Saudi Arabia don’t have the same rights as men.
“It’s true that women are restricted in careers but they have important positions in the community,” said Sewaid. She added that women from Saudi Arabia come to the United States to study much more than Saudi men and that the government gives them full scholarships to study here.
This is the first event held by BGSU’s Saudi Student Organization.
“It’s events like this that show us how much we’re alike and not how much we’re different,” said Paul Hofmann, director of international programs and advisor of the group.
