Up to 3,000 people joined in the celebration of Indian culture in Derry at the weekend.
Huge crowds attended the first ever Diwali Festival of Light celebrated by those of Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist faith in the Guildhall.
The event was facilitated by Derry City Council’s community relations team in partnership with a number of organisations from the Indian community.
Mayor of Derry Cllr Martin Reilly said festival be seen as one of the stand out events of the City of Cultural year.
He said: “We had anticipated large crowds at the festival, secured as part of the Council’s Good Relations Strategy, however we were amazed at the outstanding turnout. It creates such a positive example of Derry’s growing inter-cultural society.”
Sue Divin, community relations officer with Derry City Council, said everyone involved, especially the Indian community were delighted with the turnout.
She said: “We were overwhelmed with the interest and the fantastic atmosphere at the event! We think this may have been one of the largest Indian cultural events on the island of Ireland this year.
“The audience was made up of a wide mixture of families and individuals from all backgrounds and everyone, whether of Indian origin or otherwise seemed to really enjoy the event!
“The feedback was amazing and heart-warming to hear as those who took part young and old emerged themselves fully with array of colourful Indian traditions, Bollywood dancing, Bhanghra music, traditional crafts and authentic Indian food.”
According to the recent census, over 600 people of Indian origin live in the Derry area and Malayalam, one of many Indian languages, is the now the fourth most common language here after English, Polish and Irish.
The first Indian families migrated here in the 1920s with a further influx of workers to the hi-tech and healthcare services in 1960s and post-2000.
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