In Clontarf, a gathering to celebrate a traditional Thai new year festival

“This has really made my day,” says Tewson Seeoun, holding a large vacuum-sealed bag of leafy green herbs. “It’s holy basil, it’s really hard to find good holy basil.”

Around him on Sunday were dozens of other people, equally as delighted with their own hauls.

The smells of spices and Thai music filled the air of the Clontarf GAA Club, in the heart of Dublin 3.

Inside, in the clubhouse members of Ireland’s Thai community had gathered to celebrate Songkran, the traditional Thai new year festival.

There was a traditional Buddhist ceremony, given by monk Chatchawan Chokun. The rest of the day was a party.

And outside the clubhouse, there was a market where a dozen or so stalls were set up, offering Thai delicacies like dumplings, curries, and skewers – as well as sweeter options.

Songkran

The festival happens when the sun passes from Pisces to Aries each year.

Based on the Theravada Buddhist calendar, Songkran used to be the official new year.

These days, 1 January is the official start to the new year in Thailand, and Songkran is a national holiday.

In 2023, it was added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. And it’s the biggest holiday in Thailand.

Water is at the core of the festival, says Chanthima Ostijn, of the Thai-Ireland Association which organised the event in Clontarf.

“We use it to give blessings to the Buddha, to pay respect to the monks and some of the older people, Ostijn said by phone on Wednesday. “We pour a small amount in their hands.”

“But for others, we throw it all over. It’s lots of fun,” she says. “When you see Songkran in Thailand, it’s like a big water fight.”

Not so much here in Ireland, though. “It’s just too cold,” Ostijn says.

While there may not have been a full blown water fight in Clontarf GAA Club, there were still occasional splashes from various directions throughout the venue.

The monk

Chatchawan Chokun, a key figure of the day, was ordained a monk 21 years ago in Thailand and moved to Ireland in 2015.

He lives in Wexford these days, but visits Dublin several times a month to deliver Buddhist ceremonies.

The party is one way to raise money to help with his living expenses, says Ostijn.

“As a monk, I’m not allowed to prepare food. I only take one meal a day, but I am helped by other families who bring me food,” he says. “Sometimes I feel like an animal in the zoo, waiting for feeding time.”

When Chokun comes to Dublin, he stays with friends, he says. Lai Perkins is one of them.

Dressed in bright, traditional Thai clothes, she smiles ear to ear as she works her way through the crowd Sunday at the GAA club, chatting and making sure everyone is taken care of and having fun.

She stops to speak with one small child, who she had never met, to ask if they have had something to eat. When the child quietly shakes his head, she gently ushers him to a food stall and has him pick something out.

“It’s a very special time for us,” Perkins says. “Songkran lasts three days, and each day we do something different. One day we spend with our families, another we have a big party like this.”

The pageant

Inside the hall, there is a loud commotion around the stage as children line up for a pageant.

“It’s sort of a costume pageant, but it’s really about getting up and having a bit of craic,” explains Gary Hartnett, whose daughter Eileen would go on to claim the top prize.

Hartnett, who grew up in Terenure, lives in Khon Kaen, the fourth largest city in Thailand, with Eileen and his wife, Dao. They come back to Ireland for two months every year.

“I was thinking of driving over today, but then I thought there’s always good Guinness in a GAA club, so we took the bus. I was right too,” he says with a grin before taking a gulp from a fresh pint.

After the children’s pageant, the energy in the room goes up another few notches as the adults have their turn.

Egged on by the enthusiastic MC, five women dance and laugh through several Thai pop songs, loudly delivered by the DJ.

When they’re finished, each one is draped in garlands of bright yellow flowers as the hall fills with applause.

Ireland and Thailand

There were 2,933 people living in Ireland who were born in Thailand, at the 2022 census, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). This includes 760 who have become Irish citizens, it says.

The Thai-Ireland Association’s next big event will be in November, says Lai Perkins, who has raised three children in Ireland since moving here 28 years ago.

They’ll be celebrating Loy Krathong, Perkins says. In Thailand, during this festival, on the full moon, people take elaborately decorated baskets with maybe flowers and incense and a candle, and float them out into a river or canal or pond and make a wish.

It’s a two-way street between Ireland and Thailand. About 70,000 Irish tourists visit Thailand, according to the Irish embassy there. And there’s also a “well-established” Irish community there, it says.

Thailand GAA Club, based in Bangkok, has become a social hub for diaspora, with regular training and events throughout the year. There’s an Irish Thai Chamber of Commerce, an Irish Women’s Group and the St Patrick’s Society, the embassy says.

In Ireland, the Thai-Ireland Association works to promote and develop the relationship between the two countries.

“We have taken part in the St Patrick’s Day parades in Swords and Malahide for the last few years,” says Perkins.

“We are hoping maybe next year to take part in the main parade in the city centre. We love a party!”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.