Ireland at the Hornbill Festival
From 1 to 10 of December every year, the Hornbill Festival transforms the Kisama Naga Heritage Village outside Kohima into a living stage of colour, rhythm and tradition.
It is a celebration so rich and diverse it is known as the “Festival of Festivals”.
What is the Hornbill Festival?
Performance and community
In 2025, Ireland was proud to participate as an official country partner at the Hornbill Festival’s 26th edition. The festival welcomed more than 214,000 visitors, including international guests and tens of thousands of domestic travellers, bringing together Nagaland’s 17 major tribes in a vibrant expression of heritage, performance and community spirit.
Sports diplomacy opportunities
The Embassy brought a diverse programme to Hornbill including music showcases, public arts installation, literary, theatre and a specially curated dialogue on Ireland, India and Empire. One unsurprisingly popular addition was the inclusion of Ireland’s footballing superstar, Terry Phelan, who spoke at a roundtable on investment and sports diplomacy.
Terry was a big hit with the football-mad Naga community. Terry examined ways in which the Nagaland government and Ireland could collaborate under the Department’s sports diplomacy framework, at the roundtable and in a number of media interviews.
Community connections
For Ireland, Hornbill offered an extraordinary opportunity to share culture, creativity and conversation - and to discover striking connections between two communities shaped by strong traditions, storytelling and a deep sense of place.
“In many ways, our culture is very similar to Nagaland. Family, community, ritual: these values matter deeply in both places. The warmth of the welcome we received in Nagaland was truly wonderful.”
Music at the heart of the festival
Music pulses through the Hornbill Festival, and Ireland brought its own distinctive sound to the celebrations. Members of the acclaimed folk group The Mary Wallopers, alongside other Irish musicians, formed a special ensemble called Bóinn for the occasion.
Performing at the festival’s opening night before an audience of more than 7,000 people, Bóinn delivered a much-anticipated set of traditional Irish ballads, rare folk songs and Irish dance, reimagined with contemporary energy. Hailing from Dublin and Dundalk, the group’s performance struck a powerful chord with festivalgoers and underscored music’s ability to bridge cultures and continents.
Danu: An Irish Goddess at Hornbill
For the first time in the festival’s history, a major public arts installation from Ireland took pride of place at Hornbill. Danu, the Irish Celtic goddess associated with motherhood, resilience and the life-giving power of water, became a striking presence in Kisama.
Originally created for the 2024 Durga Puja Festival in Kolkata, the installation was designed by Irish artists Lisa Sweeney, Richard Babington and Johnny O’Reilly, in collaboration with Indian artist Sanjib Saha. Crafted from iron, wood, bamboo and fabric, the sculpture incorporated a reflective pool of water, symbolising Danu’s deep connection to rivers and renewal.
The work also featured motifs drawn from Ireland’s ancient seasonal festivals and traditions associated with St Brigid, including a St Brigid’s Cross, evoking protection and blessing. The installation resonated strongly with Hornbill audiences, inviting reflection on shared themes of nature, spirituality and continuity.
Watch Irish musicians perform at the Hornbill Festival 2025
Ireland, empire and shared histories
The Embassy also hosted a landmark international public lecture in partnership with Kohima College (Nagaland University). Delivered by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer (Trinity College Dublin), the lecture on Ireland and the British Empire marked the first collaboration of its kind between an Irish academic and a Naga institution.
The event opened an honest and thoughtful dialogue grounded in shared historical experience, creating space for reflection and future academic collaboration. For both the Embassy and Kohima College, it represented a significant milestone in deepening cultural and educational links with Nagaland.
Joyce comes to Kohima
Ireland’s literary tradition took centre stage during the latter half of the festival with “James Joyce in Kohima: An Immersive Literary Workshop”, hosted by the Embassy in collaboration with Kaivalya Plays.
Returning to Kohima College, the workshop introduced students to the book “Dubliners”, Joyce’s first major work, through an interactive, movement-based approach. Using his short story Eveline as a starting point, students explored themes of memory, family expectations and emotional conflict through reflective writing, improvisation and sensory engagement.
The sessions revealed striking parallels between Joyce’s Dublin and the lived experiences of young people in Kohima. The immersive experience demonstrated the continued relevance of Irish literature far beyond its place of origin.
Ireland’s participation at Hornbill was made possible through the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Honorary Consul of Ireland in Kolkata, and the Government of Nagaland. As a country partner, Ireland was honoured to contribute to a festival that celebrates cultural diversity, artistic expression and the power of shared stories, and to lay strong foundations for future collaboration with Nagaland.