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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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Prabhat Ravi, Garda Shane Smith, Ragini Shekhar, Rakesh Shekhar, Seamie Moore, Dr. Deepak Kumar, Paul Reilly, Mohini S Meher, Abhishek Thakur
Members of the Indian community in Ireland celebrated the joyful Holi festival in Naas.
The Bihar Jharkhand Association of Ireland was inaugurated by Indian Ambassador Sandeep Kumar last September and it was formed as a non-political and non-religious association to bring every person from Bihar Jharkhand (regions in India) living in Ireland to come together on one platform to celebrate regional festivals and help the community as a whole.
The Holi festival is a multicultural style event celebrated with enthusiasm in Ireland.
The Naas event took place in the Monread community centre.
Some 130 guests attended representing different races, religions and ethnic groups. This was a regional festival organised in a multicultural way.
There was a DJ playing Bollywood and regional songs, traditional foods, Holi theme performances - dance, singing, a talk about Holi and Antakshari (a game). The participants represented all age groups and it was attended by Naas Mayor Seamie Moore, who spoke about the relationship between India and Ireland and how this can be strengthened. He thanked BJAI committee members for organising this event and helping the community for integration.
Garda inspector Paul Reilly and Gda Shane Smyth along with community garda Gda Cogan also attended.
Holi is known as the festival of colours. It is one of the most important festivals in India. Holi, a Hindu festival, is celebrated each year in March, but different religions also join in to make it a multi-coloured festival.
Naas Mayor Seamie Moore with President Dr. Deepak Kumar, Rakesh Kumar Shekhar, Abhishek Thakur, Ragini Shekhar, Prabhat Ravi
“Holi is about celebrating happiness with friends and family. People forget their troubles and indulge in this festival to celebrate brotherhood. In other words, we forget our differences and indulge in the festive spirit. Holi is called the festival of colours because people play with colours and apply them to each other’s faces to get coloured in the essence of the festival,” said Abishek Thakur.
This was the first festive celebration organised by BJAI and the committee is already planning to organise more fun filled activities for adults and children to take part in.
Mary Winders, Robyn Winders, Tina Winders, Samantha Winders enjoying Holi first time in Ireland
The BJAI committee would highly appreciate any help and support in organising future events and can be contacted at bjaireland@gmail.com.
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