After a month of fasting from sunrise to sundown each day, sophomore Zyad Baliamoune wakes up and starts the day drinking a glass of water on Eid al-Fitr.

At the end of Ramadan, Eid commemorates the accomplishments, growth and spirituality gained during the holiest month of the Islamic calendar. This year, Eid was on Monday, May 2. Muslim students in the school community said that it is an important holiday around the world that deserves more recognition at the high school. Sophomore Zaina Khan said that for many Muslim students, Eid is a day of unity.

“On Eid, in the morning, I go to the mosque and pray. Then I call my family members that don’t live here, and the community gets together at people’s houses” Khan said.

Eid is a holy day, a time to reflect on yourself and your relationship with your religion, according to junior Zara Sideeka.

“A lot of effort is put into becoming a better Muslim, a better person and becoming more patient, kind and respectful. Ramadan comes to a close with Eid when you can look back on how much you accomplished over Ramadan and appreciate what happened,” Sideeka said.

Baliamoune said that Eid is a day that brings Muslims closer to God.

“To me it’s to commemorate having to fast for 30 days and it’s a very big day where we come very close to God,” Baliamoune said.

While Eid and Ramadan are both incredibly important, Khan said there is not much recognition of the holidays in the school community.

“People don’t really know what Eid and Ramadan are, which I understand because they’re not really taught that in school, but as Muslims we put in so much work and not a lot of people notice what we’re doing. I don’t want them to feel bad for us, but also they should recognize that we are putting in work during Ramadan,” Khan said.

Sometimes students take the days off of homework for granted and don’t consider what and who they are for. Khan said that having a day that recognizes Islamic culture would be helpful.

“I think it’d be really cool to be have a day around Islamophobia and Islam in general. These events are really important. And I don’t think that at this moment current events get recognized enough” Sideeka said.

While the school does not offer perfect representation, Khan said progress has been made.

“Brookline has gotten so much better about acknowledging Eid. When I was younger, no one really knew about Eid. I just wouldn’t come to school on Eid. Thankfully I wasn’t older because otherwise I would’ve had a lot of work to make up. There weren’t days off of homework for Eid, but now, I appreciate that it’s a category two holiday. I appreciate that I don’t have to worry about having to make up work and submit it,” Khan said.

Sideeka said that Eid deserves more recognition.

“Eid is a good break from everything. It helps us look at our religion in a more holistic view and see the beauty of our religion,” Sideeka said, “It helps us see what we’ve accomplished this past month. And now we’re going to celebrate.”