History of the Piñata

They actually originated in China, around the era of European Renaissance during the 16th century.

Marco Polo, while in China, discovered figures made to look like cows, oxen, and other animals. They were colored with bright paper and decorated in different ways. This was to greet the new year in China. The Chinese (Mandarins) would knock the figures with colored sticks, and seeds would spill everywhere. They would then burn the remains of the figures, and people gathered the ashes produced for good luck in the New Year.

This custom passed through Europe, particularly Italy, where it became a tradition of Lent. In Italy, the piñata was actually referred to as a "pignatta", meaning "fragile pot". Italians would put goodies inside of pots (instead of inside of animal figures) and break them. These pots often looked like the popular food, pineapple. In Latin, the prefix of this translates to piña, which means a cluster of flowers or fruits. This is where the name piñata came from. Inside these clay pots were not only candies, but also jewelry and trinkets. People would take turns hitting the piñata, and when it would break, the people would rush out to claim their prizes.

This activity spread to other countries around Europe. It eventually spread to Spain. Originally, the piñata represented Satan. It was made to be bright and beautiful to lure innocent people into touching it. The candies, fruits, and nuts inside represented the temptations of the Devil. The stick used to hit the piñata represented goodness to fight this evil. The person hitting the piñata was blindfolded to represent blind faith. Once the piñata broke and let out the goodies, the goodies represented a just reward. Then the piñata symbolized 'caridad' or 'charity' because everyone got to share in the wonderful gifts and blessings. The message was that all were justified through faith in God.

The Spanish brought this custom to Mexico through its explorers and conquistadors. The Spanish brought the custom to the Aztec Indians, to be specific. The Aztecs willfully adopted this activity because it was strangely similar to a custom they already practiced. (Although the story behind it was a bit different than the Spanish story of faith in God)

The Aztecs decorated clay pots of their own and filled them with treasures to celebrate the birthday of the god of war (Huitzilopochtli). The Aztecs would beat the clay pot, which was strung in front of an image of the god of war, and the treasures would fall to the feet of the image as an offering to him. Maya Indians also used piñatas, but they used them as more of a game. They blindfolded each other to make it more of a sport, since the Mayas were very sport-oriented.

Since the home of the Aztecs and Mayas was in Mexico, this tradition spread throughout the country. The tradition survived much longer than the Aztec and Maya civilizations did.

As the custom evolved, Mexican artists began to make the piñatas in their own ways, decorating them into objects of their own heritage and using cardboard and paper mache to do so

Today, few people know the original meanings of the piñata. Now, piñatas are mostly used as a fun activity to celebrate birthdays and Las Posadas, the time to welcome the Christmas season in Mexico.

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