The Piñata is the elder sister of the blind man´s buff, and it´s origin goes back to very ancient times. It is said that the origin of the Piñata is Chinese not Mexican as many may think. In China it was used to celebrate the coming of spring and as a result of Marco Polo’s adventures into China, he introduced this custom to Europe which was adopted by the Spanish as well as by the French and Italians. Marco Polo saw how the Chinese created figures of cows, donkeys and buffalos that were then filled with 5 different colored seeds and then hit with sticks to knock out all the seeds. By the time this arrived to Europe it passed to from being a pagan ritual to a Christian through religious practices during the Middle Ages. The Spanish brought this custom to the new world when they conquered Mexico. In Mexico the piñata was made of a clay pot and decorated with colorful paper and filled with candy. To have a turn to hit the piñata you had to have your eyes covered with a scarf or bandana. Piñatas have become popular additions to children’s birthday parties in many Latin-American countries and today, the popularity of piñatas in the United States continues to rise. They come in many sizes, shapes , colors, animals, cartoon and movie characters. Some of the piñatas are made of paper and the tradition of hitting it with a stick continuous. In Europe, the most popular ones are the string piñatas which have strings on the bottom part and each kid gets to pull a string in order to get the candy released. Mexican tradition includes various songs, both Spanish and English version.
Spanish: Dale, dale, dale. No pierdas el tino. Porque si lo pierdes, pierdes el camino. Ya le diste una. Ya le diste dos. Ya le diste tres. Y tu tiempo se acabo.
English: Hit it! Hit it! Hit it! Don’t lose your aim! Because if you lose it, you lose the way. You hit once. You hit twice. And then once more! And your time is up! At www.partyweb.us piñatas and tons of party supplies.