Explanatory Essay
10/21/2013
How to Make a Piñata
How many of us like to party? How many of us have been to a party that had a piñata there? I’m sure that all of us at some point of our lives had a piñata, wanted a piñata, or went to a party that had a piñata there. In March, I made my niece a piñata in the shape of the number one for her first birthday. It is important to know the history of piñatas, and have all the right materials, in order to assemble a successful piñata.
To begin, I'll go over the history of piñata. As stated in Webster’s dictionary, a decorated vessel (as of papier-mâché) filled with candies, fruits, and gifts and hung up to be broken with sticks by blindfolded persons as part of especially Latin-American festivities (as at Christmas or for a birthday party). According to Wendy Devlin, piñatas may have originated in China. The earliest accountable occurrence of piñatas points to China. The man who discovered piñatas name is Marco Polo. Piñata’s started out in the 14th century, in the shape of cows, oxen’s, and buffaloes celebrating the Chinese New year. Piñata’s became popular in North America in the 16th century by Spanish missionaries, using them to attract people to their ceremonies. We may never know exactly how, where or when the piñata came to be because in every region of the world where piñatas are a tradition, the people have their own unique folklore about its history that even affects how the piñatas are made, as stated on pinapinatas.com. As stated on mexconnect.com, the piñata reflected three theological virtues in the religious instruction or catechism (catequismo).
The blindfolded participant represents the leading force in defying evil, ‘Fe’, faith, which must be blind. People gathered near the player and spun him around to confuse his sense of space. Sometimes the turns numbered thirty three in memory of the life of Christ. The voices of others cry out guidance:
¡Más arriba! More upwards!