OMCA’s 28th Annual Día de los Muertos Community Celebration (Oakland)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Join us as OMCA comes alive for the 28th annual community celebration honoring Day of the Dead traditions. Craft activities, tasty food, dance and music groups, colorful ofrendas, and ceremonia bring the community together for this healing tradition. Browse Day of the Dead merchandise by local artisans for your home altar at our mercado. Enjoy performances ranging from contemporary popular music to folkloric dance to mariachi. Join in a procession to open the celebration led by Days of the Dead committee members.

The 28th Annual Día de los Muertos Community Celebration

Get your tickets online in advance. Limited tickets will be available at the door.

View the livestream on YouTube.

• Festival tickets are $10 for general public and free for members.
• Festival + Core Gallery Access tickets are $19 for general public and free for members.
• Festival + Core Gallery and Special Exhibition Access tickets are $25 for the general public and free for members.

ASL Interpretation for garden stage provided by Communique Interpreting and Partners in Communication.

View community-created ofrendas throughout the OMCA gardens paying homage to loved ones lost. Participating organizations include Black Girls Brilliance – Montera Middle School, La Clínica de la Raza: Cultura y Bienestar, Native American Health Center, Oakland Asian Cultural Center, OMCA’s Día de los Muertos Volunteer Committee, Richmond High School / Alma Latina – Danza Tonatzl, and Queer Healing Arts Center.

Program Schedule

GARDEN

• 12-1 pm Opening Ceremony, Danza Nahui Ehekatl and Company
• 1–1:15 pm Formal Welcome featuring Mistresses of Ceremony Juanita Chavez & Maricela Gutierrez
• 1:15-1:40 pm Son de la Tierra
• 1:45-1:55 pm Arnoldo Garcia, Poet
• 2–2:25 pm Mariachi Femenil Orgullo Mexicano
• 2:30–2:55 pm Ballet Folklórico Mexicano
• 3-3:10 pm Ayodele Nzinga, Oakland Poet Laureate
• 3:15–3:55 pm Javier Navarrette’s Socially Distant Friends
• 3:55–4 pm Closing Remarks

ACTIVITIES

• 12-4 pm Mercado, 12th St Plaza
• 12-4 pm Food Trucks, 10th St
• 12-4 pm Town Fare Cafe, Level 2
• 12-4 pm Town Fare Snack Bar, Level 2 Patio
• 12-4 pm Art Activity, Garden
• 2:30-4 pm* Limpias (designated smoke carriers), Garden

*Schedule is subject to change

MERCADO VENDORS

Casa de la Fiesta
Chris Granillo Art
Dave Of The Dead Arts
Frida’s Ofrenditas
Hogar Latino
Irma Ortiz

FOOD TRUCKS

Cielito Lindo
The Waffle Roost

OFRENDAS

Black Girls Brilliance – Montera Middle School
La Clínica de la Raza: Cultura y Bienestar
Native American Health Center
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
OMCA’s Día de los Muertos Volunteer Committee
Richmond High School / Alma Latina – Danza Tonatzl
Queer Healing Arts Center

Día de los Muertos Ofrenda 

In Remembrance of the Young Victims of School Shootings

On view October 11–November 27, 2022 on the Lower Level, near the entrance to the Gallery of California Natural Sciences

Free

This ofrenda commemorates the tragic and violent deaths of young students in a school setting and the adults assigned to their care and learning. The inspiration for this offering is rooted in Mexico’s annual November 1st celebration of Día de los Angelitos, or Day of the Little Angels, which honors the lives of children who briefly lived on this earth. This feast is in conjunction with Mexico’s annual two day Dia de los Muertos celebration, or Day of the Dead celebration, of November 1st and 2nd. Though the death of a child brings deep loss and pain, the Día de los Angelitos feast is rooted in the healing sentiment that one has gained an angel in heaven.

Altars, known as ofrendas, are created in the home or on children’s graves with vibrant decorations and offerings of toys, sweets, flowers, favorite foods, and personal objects that brought pleasure in life.

With these traditions in mind, we of the Día de los Muertos Volunteer Committee of the Oakland Museum of California, have created this ofrenda to express feelings of compassion on behalf of our communities for the loss of these young lives and to celebrate the joy they brought in life.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.