Cradle of Aviation Museum focuses on different cultures for Hispanic Heritage Month

Reyan Saha rolled strips of yellow paper into long tubes, securing them with striped tape before holding the paper pan flute up to his mouth and posing for a photo to send to the 8-year-old’s grandmother.

“She would be proud,” his mother, Starla, said, explaining their Peruvian ancestry.

The family, visiting from North Brunswick, New Jersey, stopped in to explore the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Uniondale and were treated to a cultural celebration Saturday afternoon.

Crafting a pan flute, also known as a siku, was one of several activities planned at the museum to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Each craft correlated with a Latin American country and aviator from that region, weaving culture together with science.

“If we ever go to Machu Picchu, I’m sure [my kids] will see an authentic version of the pan flute, and maybe they’ll recognize it,” Starla Saha said. “I want them to understand and be more exposed,” she said, to both their own cultures and different ones.

The museum is offering the Hispanic Heritage Month activities on weekends through Oct. 27. 

Museum educator James Sesti said the museum frequently hosts activities to align with cultural celebrations.

“It’s a way to start piquing interest and get people to come into the museum and hopefully inspire those who come in here,” Sesti said. 

In addition to paper flutes representing Peru, stations were set up for kids to craft mini Mexican piñatas out of toilet paper rolls and a rainbow of tissue paper or a capirucho, a traditional toy from El Salvador where the goal is to get a stick into a cup that's attached with a string.

“Kids are making the most amazing pan flutes and piñatas, so creative, taking their own spin on things,” said Victoria Ferguson, the museum’s public programs coordinator.

The interactive crafts were a way for children to learn about important contributions Latinos have made in aviation.

Among the honorees are Juan Pablo and Eduardo Aldasoro, Mexican trailblazers who began building and testing their own gliders in 1908 and later got scholarships to attend the Moisant Aviation School in what is now Garden City.

Juan Pablo Aldasoro made history by flying over the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 1913, according to the museum.

The brothers and other historical aviators will also be part of a spooky science event planned for the Day of the Dead on Nov. 1, Ferguson said.

“We’re going to have the aviators in ofrendas [displays] in the galleries so the kids can decorate them and learn all about them,” she said.

The activities caught the eyes of several children who passed by during the afternoon.

Sylvia Gutwillig, 10, of Levittown, showed off her own pan flute.

“I think it’s for llamas to listen,” she said.

Alissa Venier, of Syosset, helped her daughter Olivia, 6, assemble a flute after spending the morning learning about rockets with their Girl Scout troop.

“It’s a cool way to expose them, after coming out and learning about science, to be able to stay and do an activity to learn about something different is fantastic,” Venier, 43, said.