Deaf Children Experience "Day of the Dead" at the Oakland Museum
By
Concha Delgado-Gaitán
 The Día de los Muertos exhibit is an important cultural public event.
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Walking into the Oakland Museum's Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) exhibit, the brightly lit candles and colorful flowers on the " ofrendas" (altars) immediately steal one's attention. The Día de los Muertos exhibit is an important cultural public event, which draws in a wide spectrum of the San Francisco Bay Area community to visit annually. Creative celebratory ofrendas are erected in honor of those who have left this world. But for Deaf children and young people, this exhibit could be completely inaccessible. The exhibits require a great deal of explanation in order to understand the cultural and historical meaning of why the altars are constructed and "how" they're assembled. This is where the D.E.A.F. Media Inc. with Dr. Susan Rutherford as director, stepped in to fill a much needed gap. For 30 years, D.E.A.F. Media Inc. has bridged understanding with institutions that want to reach out to all people, Deaf and hearing. For the past 4 years, D.E.A.F. Media Inc. has successfully involved young Deaf people and their families in such events.
Approximately 75 people of various ethnic and age groups attended the Day of Dead celebration this year. About one third were young Deaf children, another third were other youth at large, and another third were adults. The criterion for young people participating in the event is their knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL). But for parents who are hearing, verbal translation services were provided simultaneously while the docent signs.
This year, as in the past 4 years, Martha Aguilar, a Latina Docent from D.E.A.F. Media Inc. led the Day of the Dead tour. She conveyed the meaning of the celebration in ASL. With Ms. Aguilar as the docent the D.E.A.F. Media organization accomplishes two major goals: to reach out to the Latino community and to provide access to this cultural event. Another expectation is to have young people and their families understand the significance of Day of the Dead. It is not always an easy concept for young people to comprehend, even if they are Latino. Sometimes children are frightened by thinking about death or cemeteries and may be confused by the notion of celebrating the sprit of dead loved ones and ancestors by erecting altars and decorating them with candles, flowers, pictures, and food.
At the beginning of the tour at 11:00 a.m., Ms. Aguilar led the group to the Día de los Muertos exhibit and introduced the topic to the group of children and adults. With the children sitting on the floor in front of the group, the docent, signed, engaging them through questions she asked them and through personal stories about her mother who visited the cemetery in Mexico on the Day of Dead. She explained that ofrendas are decorated to entice and invite the spirits of those who have passed on. Candles on the altars are said to light the way for the spirits so that they can find their way home easily. The favorite food of the departed is set on the ofrendas for the spirit who might be hungry when it arrives home.
Clear explanation about the Día de los Muertos celebration is necessary for everyone to appreciate the experience. One year a group of young Deaf people from a local school attended the Day of the Dead tour. When the children sat down and watched the Deaf docent signing, they became restless and could not sit still. Evidently, they were unfamiliar with ASL even though they were Deaf. And when one boy was instructed to pay attention to the storyteller, he asked in a loud voice, "Why can't you talk?" Just then the Deaf storyteller in sign and in voice said, "I too am Deaf just like you, but I'm using ASL with my hands. I will also use my voice for those of you who do not sign." The room immediately fell quiet. From that point on, the children sat spellbound listening to the story. Awakenings such as these occur frequently at D.E.A.F. workshops. They speak to the much-needed educational services to integrate the Deaf community into the larger public.
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