Oscar Gomez/Borderless MagazineMore than 30 children gathered at the museum to celebrate the breaking of the Rosca de Reyes.
Surrounded by paintings and sculptures, more than 30 migrant children participated in breaking the Rosca de Reyes at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The Museum hosted the celebration of Día de Los Reyes, or “Three Kings Day,” on Wednesday as part of a collaboration with the Mexican Consulate in Chicago.
Three Kings Day is observed on Jan. 6, the 12th day after Christmas, and is celebrated across Latin America. It marks the end of the Christmas holiday.
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Families often celebrate with the breaking of Rosca de Reyes, a sweet bread filled with one or a few small baby figurines representing the baby Jesus. Whoever finds the figurine traditionally makes tamales or throws a party on the religious holiday Candlemas Day in February.
“Museums cannot be those places that are only for a few anymore,” said Manuel Venegas, the director of media relations at MCA. “It has to be for everybody. The way to do that is by allowing people to access the program in their own language.”
Throughout the celebrations, children, who are unaccompanied minors, moved in groups to different art stations where they made crowns, gloves and zines and also got to tour parts of the museum. The event was held in both English and Spanish.
Unaccompanied minors are undocumented children who cross into the United States without a parent or legal guardian.
“It is important to know that you have community, not just with one another, but you have community here with us,” said Alicia Sandoval Vadillo, the manager of student and family programs at MCA. “You’re always welcome here.”
This event is the second year of this collaboration, and it is part of MCA’s ongoing plan to implement more bilingual, inclusive and multicultural content into its programming.
“We thought this was the perfect opportunity for us to bring unaccompanied minors to come closer to art and to their roots and traditions,” said Samantha Conde Martinez of the Mexican consulate in Chicago. “Sometimes we may not think art is for everyone, and sometimes migrants may not feel represented through art.”
The day’s events ended with the cutting of the Rosca de Reyes. The MCA plans to host more programming to bring different communities into the museum.
“For so many years, families didn’t have the chance to move downtown,” Venegas said. “We want to take this opportunity to take the museum to them.”
Tara Mobasher is a Northwestern Medill Reporting fellow at Borderless Magazine. Email Tara at Tara@borderlessmag.org.
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