Alamiri, who planned the dinner, said she wanted to introduce the Saudi culture to other Muslims as well as international and domestic students. After 28 days and countless hours of planning, the Saudi Student Organization was able to gather 11 other MSU organizations to participate, showing how they celebrate the holiday in various countries.

Alamiri said the main goal of the dinner was for people to gather, have fun, eat well, and to educate the MSU community on different diverse cultures.

“I wanted them to see other cultures,” Alamiri said. “Eid Al-Adha happens every year and every Muslim celebrates it, but no one knows how the next-door country celebrates it.”

Muslim or not, it didn’t matter. The event brought in around 500 students and faculty members who were interested in the Eid Al-Adha experience.

Biochemistry senior Emma Darios, who has no direct Muslim tie, said she and her friends came out to simply enjoy the event.

“It’s just a way to embrace other cultures, this isn’t my culture so it’s really cool that they have it open for anyone to pop in,” said Darios.

The dinner opened up with Mohamed Mabrouk from the Islamic Center of Greater Lansing explaining the holiday, followed by performances from the Saudi Student Organization, Libyan Student Association and the Somali Student Organization, before breaking for a traditional Magrib prayer before dinner.

Every group participating brought traditional foods from their home country with main dishes of Somali rice pilaf, Halal chicken shwarma and Halal spicy lamb biryani.

“Obviously the food is the most important thing here,” neuroscience junior Tarek Tabbaa said.

After dinner, more performances followed, including Omar El Sherif, who represented Egypt, the Malaysian Student Association, Kazakh Student Association and the Turkish Student Association. The dinner later wrapped up with comments from Denise Maybank, vice president of student affairs.