PIÑATAS

It's a colorful decoration. It's a symbol of gaiety. It comes with surprises. Everyone loves to be in on the breaking of a piñata. Piñatas came to the United States from México, where they are said to be as common during Yuletide as a Christmas tree is in the United States. But the piñata is an old Italian custom, having its start in Italy during the 16th century. It was developed during the Renaissance, when the common people were beginning to have a gay time, being liberated from some of the religious restrictions. Only the wealthy people learned to read and write. The common people entertained themselves by telling stories and playing games.

A piñata was an earthen pot, and the game was played by blindfolding a person, twirling him a few times, giving him a stick, and allowing him three strikes at the suspended pot, just above his head. The cord holding the pot could be used to vary the height as the person swung. The pot was called pignatta, from pigna, meaning cone-shaped in Italian. Travelers and adventurers took the custom to Spain, where the first Sunday of Lent was designated as Piñata Sunday, and a ball was held, called the Dance of Piñata. Piñatas were usually only broken during Lent.

Piñatas continued to be rather ugly unglazed earthen pots when the Spanish explorers introduced them to México, along with the Spanish culture and Christian religion. The game took on religious significance and is important now during the Christmas season. Some families break them only on Christmas Eve, but others break them the nine evenings before Christmas. About 60 years ago, the Mexicans began to decorate the pots with colorful tissue paper, forming them to look like carrots, radishes, pineapples, and roses.

Visitors from the United States liked the decorated piñatas, and bought them to take home. The demand was so great that the piñata makers started to make them of papier-mâché. Many of the piñatas made in México still have the earthen pot inside the papier-mâché. The variety of shapes has enlarged to include stars, bells, donkeys, ducks, birds, toys, Santa Clauses, witches, bulls, elephants, eggs, drums, clowns, pumpkins, cakes, satellites, trucks, cowboys, indians, airplanes, and footballs. The use of the piñata has also spread, with piñatas being broken on Easter, Halloween, Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, Fourth of July, and for birthday parties. They are available from department stores, gift shops, party shops, and Mexican import shops. The piñatas are filled with everything from traditional candy to fine jewelry, and from nuts and fruit to toys. Some are even filled with treasure maps, where the person getting the map must follow the directions to find his prize.

Most piñata parties at Christmas time are for children, with candy the goal of those scrambling when the piñata is broken. The host usually has a reserve supply of candy, so that those who do not get a treat in the scramble will not go away empty handed.

Piñatas are now used in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin América, United States and Canada.