Downtown Muskegon, the place that they call Heritage Landing seemed perfect for the event that brings Irish culture into everyday Muskegon life during September. It allows people with busy lives to escape their reality for a short amount of time and lets them experience a culture besides their own, which is the intended purpose of the Irish Music Festival. Cultural experience at its core allows people outside of their own culture to gain further insight and participate in the activities that another culture normally does. The purpose allows the hosting culture to introduce how they live, giving the visiting people a perspective as well as a chance to make a connection and remember the customs of the culture. September 17th through the 20th is when the Irish festival occurred this year, but luckily the festival comes comes annually in September.

As I heard the beautiful playing of instruments such as the flute and violin, as I heard the accents of real Irish descent, as I observed all of the verdant apparel around me, I could not help myself but feel connected with this inspiring culture as the day went on. I still hear the resonating sounds of the people cheering for the Irish bands as they performed tunes from their home. Not once did I see anyone appearing bored or upset. All around me people seemed to enjoy the festival as much as I did. Exposing my young mind to this culture helped shaped my view first hand of how other people live and what they are used to for everyday customs. This experience, above any other I had witnessed, brought together happiness and joy that seemed to have everybody there lost within the wonderful atmosphere of Irish culture. “These ethnic communities identify in varying degrees with Irish culture, and they are distinguished by their religion, dance, music, dress, food, and secular and religious celebrations” (Wilson). All of these elements were present at the festival, and each one was an important contribution to the authenticity of the Irish culture.

Only paying ten dollars to gain entrance, the amount of knowledge I acquired and left with surely surpassed the small sum I had to pay for such an insightful experience. I chose to attend the event because you can reflect on and acknowledge the similarities and differences of your culture and others. There is also some Irish heritage within my family, so I thought it would be interesting to glean more about the culture that shaped my family. From the tap dancing of the Irish dancers to the playing of the bagpipes, the Irish Music Festival trumps any other cultural event that I had previously attended because of how they shared their culture and were open to bringing their lives to ours. The way they connected to the people of West Michigan through music and performances was amazing. I have not been to any other Irish festivals, however, I have been to medieval renaissance festivals. The way I was absorbed into the Irish festival cannot compare to any other event because of the music they played and the food they provided sustained everybody throughout the weekend. Each of the four days had the same intensity. You could not tell if it was Thursday afternoon or Sunday evening. The Irish performers had the same determination and enthusiasm throughout the duration of the festival. I may never discover the entire feeling of being Irish and what it is like to live the culture every day, but surely the insight I acquired from just a small amount of exposure opened my eyes to an extraordinary group of people.

After thoughts and reflection, the gist of what I took away was the fact that Irish culture expanded my insatiable urge to travel to other parts of the world as well as gain more knowledge about other cultures because once you have a feel for any culture, you want to learn more. As stated by Marybeth Phillips, “Ireland is not a political or military powerhouse," she said, "but the Irish are very artistic in their writings and music and I want the children to know that” (Kachin).  This quote in its entirety explains that Irish writing and music are very important to the Irish culture and customs of their everyday life. Both art forms were displayed during the music festival. Music was being performed by the musicians, and paintings and tapestries were sold by the merchants.

Embedded in the roots of cultural experience comes sharing of ideas and the learning process of how different people live their lives. The Irish Music Festival epitomized cultural experience in a sense that they brought their knowledge and were overtly able to spread it through their songs, food, and selling goods. In comparison to our culture, the Irish seem to embody positivity about their culture and society.  When Americans hear the word “society,” they tend to associate it with animadversion. Americans find many faults in society and therefore see it as something of a negative nature. Whereas the Irish rather embrace their society and find it a positive environment and culture to be apart of, which was evinced at the festival. We as Americans need to become more like the Irish. A culture must embrace their society themselves before it can be shared and embraced by others.

The ability to spread ideas and customs so that more people can connect with us and learn more from us is essential to the learning of new cultures and broadening our point of view. Regarding personal questions, I still am pondering and desire an answer as to why all cultures are not like the Irish. Why can all cultures not embrace life with a uniform happiness in regards to their society? Why can all cultures not be proud of and admire where they came from?  If this were to be the case, one can only imagine the higher quality of life we would all be living. This is why the Irish culture is so inspiring; they live life to the fullest and embrace every aspect that brings them together.

Culture varies among countries and people. It also is reflected by the actions people take that define what their culture is. The privilege I had of experiencing Irish culture in person will resonate with me the rest of my life because of the people that took the time to show West Michigan their culture and how it is they live their lives. I encourage everyone to get out and connect to a different culture, otherwise you never know what knot you may tie and strengthen.

Works Cited
Kachin, Denise Breslin. "Celebrating Irish Culture." Philly-archives. H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest, 01 Mar. 1992. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.
Wilson, Thomas M. "Ireland." Culture of Ireland. Countries and Their Cultures, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.