Imagine what you would do if you had to emigrate to another country. Where would you go? Would you bring your old culture and traditions, or would you adapt to the culture of your new home? 10 million Irish citizens faced these questions as they left Ireland to find a new home. The EPIC Museum was founded to honor these Irish people for leaving their country to spread the Irish culture throughout the world. Although the Irish people might have emigrated under poor circumstances, they were able to influence the world through music, sports, dance, politics, art, science, and technology.
The beginning of the EPIC Museum highlighted the many factors which caused a large portion of the Irish population to leave Ireland. One of the biggest factors was the Irish potato famine. Because the Irish people were starving, many of them decided to leave the country or to intentionally get caught committing a crime to become incarcerated. The people that were incarcerated were provided with free food, and some of them were sent to Australia to serve their prison sentences. Another factor of Irish emigration was the religious conflict between the Catholics and Protestants. Although Catholics made up a majority of the population of Ireland, the Protestants were given more rights under the British control. This caused the persecuted majority to seek religious freedom elsewhere. Because America has complete religious freedom, many people decided to go there by traveling in one of the many Irish coffin ships.
In the same day that we visited the EPIC Museum, we learned about the unsafe travel conditions that the Irish emigrants had to endure while traveling in the coffin ships. The name coffin ship comes from the idea that most of the emigrants on the ships died during their travels. The high risk of death on the coffin ships shows that the Irish emigrants would do anything to escape the terrible conditions back home and to obtain opportunities in a new country.
Towards the middle of the EPIC Museum, there was a quick transition from the heartbreaking hardships that the Irish emigrants endured to the spread of Irish pride, influence, and culture. Although the museum highlighted the Irish emigrants’ role in sports, politics, science, and technology, I was more interested in the Irish influence in music and dance. I feel that music and dance are the most noticeable elements of a culture’s identity. One section of the museum even talked about how the dance floor was one of the most important meeting places for Irish immigrants in American cities because it usually set them up with new jobs or a romantic partner. Another section of the museum also talked about how the Irish emigrants would be able to spread Irish music and step dancing to make their new countries feel like home.
The EPIC Museum was a great site to give visitors an appreciation of the past. I enjoyed how the museum transitioned from the depressing beginning, where they talked about the hardships that the emigrants faced, to an uplifting ending, where they talked about the Irish emigrants’ impact on society. I would recommend that people visiting Dublin should visit the EPIC Museum if they have the chance.