Lawrenceville Celebrates Arab American Heritage Month

Throughout the month of April, the Office of Multicultural Affairs partnered with the Southwest Asian and North African student affinity group (SWANA) to host a variety of programming in celebration of Arab American Heritage Month. These events served to honor the rich culture and traditions of Arab Americans and provide education about their achievements, contributions, and culture.

Afrah Events, a professional dabke dance group, kicked off the month with a performance of this traditional Arabic folk dance at School Meeting. Student members of SWANA shared information about Arab American history and culture, and introduced the dabke dance performers.

“Dabke is a traditional folk dance native to the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan),” said Isabella Danker ‘26. “Dabke means ‘to stomp the feet’ in Arabic, and it is celebrated at joyful events like weddings and festivals. It is a circle and line dance, and the dancers usually hold hands with each other.”

Audience members were invited to participate in the vibrant performance, and joined dancers on the Kirby Arts Center stage.

“We want to introduce students to our interesting and peaceful culture, and share something that mau be different from what they expect. We use dabke dance on joyous occasions as a way of celebration. The sound of the feet stamping the ground together and the holding of hands represent strength and unity,” said Eyad Fakhereddine, founder of Afrah Events US, L.L.C.

Later in the month, SWANA hosted a dessert night for the community, sharing Arabic traditions and Middle Eastern desserts. Attended by more than a third of the Lawrenceville student body, the event featured a variety of traditional Middle Eastern desserts, including an authentic Kaak and Lebanese Knafeh delivered from a bakery based in Dearborn, Michigan, home to a large Arab American community. The "Kaak Knafeh" combines two popular treats: "kaak," a sweet, flavored bread with "knafeh," a sweet pastry made with thin noodle-like pastry soaked in syrup and layered with cheese or cream.

The event also featured stations where students participated in creating traditional maamoul pastry cookies, and baklawa, similar to the Greek baklava, a dessert made from buttery, crisp layers of phyllo filled with nuts and soaked in flower water syrup.

Clara Khabazz ‘26 and her family prepared the dough and date-based filling for the maamoul that students worked with during the event. Marisa Hedges, history educator and SWANA advisor, prepared a tray of bawlawa for students to taste and as well as a station where students could practice making it. 

“Making bawlawa is very a slow and tedious process - a true labor of love,” Hedges said. “My family recipe, which I learned how to make from the generation of women in my family before me, uses a walnut mixture and a lemon simple syrup. Many Arabs use a rose water simple syrup as well.”

The programming concluded with the School’s ongoing Lunch and Dialogue series. This student-facilitated discussion provided students with an opportunity to engage in open conversation with their peers about Arab history and cultural themes over a meal.

“Arab Americans are a mosaic of diversity in terms of language and dialect, physical characteristics, religion and cuisine,” said Booker Hedges ‘27. “There is no one way to characterize Arab Americans, and while we embrace similarities that unite us, we also celebrate our unique differences.”

See more images from Arab American Heritage month celebrations on Flickr.

Read more in Lawrenceville’s student newspaper, The Lawrence.

For additional information, contact Lisa M. Gillard H'17, director of public relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.