The piñata
Perhaps you are not too sure what a piñata is. A piñata is a heavy thing, a large clay pot decorated with coloured paper and silver (or gold), tasselled, cardboard cones. The clay pot concealed beneath the decoration is a thin skinned cantaro.
Cantaros, when they are not being used to make piñatas are water pots. They have something similar in India. And as the water percolates through porous baked clay it evaporates and refrigerates the liquid, giving it a deliciously mineraline flavour. At first the taste is very strong and then it softens and dilutes until finally the salty earthiness is no longer perceptible and the cantaro needs replacing.
A craftsman covers the clay pot in coloured paper and attaches tasselled cones to it. He may transform it into the figure or head of a well known character, perhaps a character from the songs of Francisco Gabilondo Soler, Cri Cri.
La Piñata
Una piñata barata
y la mejor colación.
Ay, marchantita, pos llévese éstaporque
no hay otra mejor.
Esta piñata es bonitapero
además tiene un don:
los niños buenos podrán romperla,
pero los malos, pues, no.
Yo tengo cañas de buen sabor
y tejocotes de buen color,
cacahuates de Salvatierra,
tostado de horno que no hay mejor.
Una piñata barata
y muy bonita, ya ve.
Ay, marchantita,
se la regalonomás por ser para asté.
Francisco Gabilondo Soler
When the piñata is ready it is filled with sweets: Glorias, Pulparindos, Pelo Rico, dulces Vero; hand made cocadas, hard jellies made from quince, guava or pear, toffee packed in boxes or layered in wafers flavoured with wine, with vanilla or burned, varieties of brittle, milk fudge and bars of Carlos V chocolate, Paletas Payaso: mashmallow covered in chocolate, gansitos or chocoroles. In the old days it would be full of fruit and sugar cane, peanuts, boiled sweets and tejocote. (Tejocote is a little berry that tastes like crab apple.)
The loop at the top of the piñata needs to be strong. Two men suspend it on a rope or cord between balconies or windows. Now the piñata is free to swoop down from height, launch itself upwards or swing, looping up, looping down shifting from side to side.
The person trying to hit the piñata is spun blindfold underneath it and we sing:
"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 acabó!
Or
"Dale, dale, dale,
No pierdas el tino
Porque si lo pierdes
pierdes el camino.
Dale, dale, dale
y no le dio
Quítenle la venda
¡porque sigo yo!
¡Se Acabó!
¡Sigo yo! "
And then:
"La piñata tiene caca,
tiene caca,
tiene caca,
cacahuates de a montón.
Esta piñata
es de muchas mañas,
sólo contiene,
naranjas y cañas.
Andale niño,
no te dilates,
con la canasta
de los cacahuates."
The piñata lowers temptingly during the song and as it ends the player tries to take the pinata by surprise. It leaps, predictably, out of reach. Some lash out with all their strength and then everyone stands back. Others are more tentative and exploratory, poking about, sweeping weakly. Some are cunning and bide their time before whirling around and striking. But when a small child is given the broomstick to hold the men lower the piñata gently and the piñata doesn't flinch as the toddler takes little whacks at it.
The piñata can split, and open by degrees and leak. But most satisfying of all is when it breaks with big crack after a satisfying smack. The paper rips and the piñata drops its sweets like a bomber. The children, (and some of the greedier adults), leap scrabble on their hands and knees and snatch up handfuls of mouthfuls .
The origins of the pinata are unclear. They are obviously Mexican. Perhaps the name comes from the fact that the shape resembles a pineapple or piña. But Italy does have something called a pignatta, a thin clay pot. And they had a similar games in India and China.
The piñata, with its dancing horns is said to represent the devil, and when you are beating the devil blindfold you should not hold back. And if you can hit him and break and defeat him, the rewards are showers of sweet things.
Perhaps you are not too sure what a piñata is. A piñata is a heavy thing, a large clay pot decorated with coloured paper and silver (or gold), tasselled, cardboard cones. The clay pot concealed beneath the decoration is a thin skinned cantaro.
Cantaros, when they are not being used to make piñatas are water pots. They have something similar in India. And as the water percolates through porous baked clay it evaporates and refrigerates the liquid, giving it a deliciously mineraline flavour. At first the taste is very strong and then it softens and dilutes until finally the salty earthiness is no longer perceptible and the cantaro needs replacing.
A craftsman covers the clay pot in coloured paper and attaches tasselled cones to it. He may transform it into the figure or head of a well known character, perhaps a character from the songs of Francisco Gabilondo Soler, Cri Cri.
La Piñata
Una piñata barata
y la mejor colación.
Ay, marchantita, pos llévese éstaporque
no hay otra mejor.
Esta piñata es bonitapero
además tiene un don:
los niños buenos podrán romperla,
pero los malos, pues, no.
Yo tengo cañas de buen sabor
y tejocotes de buen color,
cacahuates de Salvatierra,
tostado de horno que no hay mejor.
Una piñata barata
y muy bonita, ya ve.
Ay, marchantita,
se la regalonomás por ser para asté.
Francisco Gabilondo Soler
When the piñata is ready it is filled with sweets: Glorias, Pulparindos, Pelo Rico, dulces Vero; hand made cocadas, hard jellies made from quince, guava or pear, toffee packed in boxes or layered in wafers flavoured with wine, with vanilla or burned, varieties of brittle, milk fudge and bars of Carlos V chocolate, Paletas Payaso: mashmallow covered in chocolate, gansitos or chocoroles. In the old days it would be full of fruit and sugar cane, peanuts, boiled sweets and tejocote. (Tejocote is a little berry that tastes like crab apple.)
The loop at the top of the piñata needs to be strong. Two men suspend it on a rope or cord between balconies or windows. Now the piñata is free to swoop down from height, launch itself upwards or swing, looping up, looping down shifting from side to side.
The person trying to hit the piñata is spun blindfold underneath it and we sing:
"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 acabó!
Or
"Dale, dale, dale,
No pierdas el tino
Porque si lo pierdes
pierdes el camino.
Dale, dale, dale
y no le dio
Quítenle la venda
¡porque sigo yo!
¡Se Acabó!
¡Sigo yo! "
And then:
"La piñata tiene caca,
tiene caca,
tiene caca,
cacahuates de a montón.
Esta piñata
es de muchas mañas,
sólo contiene,
naranjas y cañas.
Andale niño,
no te dilates,
con la canasta
de los cacahuates."
The piñata lowers temptingly during the song and as it ends the player tries to take the pinata by surprise. It leaps, predictably, out of reach. Some lash out with all their strength and then everyone stands back. Others are more tentative and exploratory, poking about, sweeping weakly. Some are cunning and bide their time before whirling around and striking. But when a small child is given the broomstick to hold the men lower the piñata gently and the piñata doesn't flinch as the toddler takes little whacks at it.
The piñata can split, and open by degrees and leak. But most satisfying of all is when it breaks with big crack after a satisfying smack. The paper rips and the piñata drops its sweets like a bomber. The children, (and some of the greedier adults), leap scrabble on their hands and knees and snatch up handfuls of mouthfuls .
The origins of the pinata are unclear. They are obviously Mexican. Perhaps the name comes from the fact that the shape resembles a pineapple or piña. But Italy does have something called a pignatta, a thin clay pot. And they had a similar games in India and China.
The piñata, with its dancing horns is said to represent the devil, and when you are beating the devil blindfold you should not hold back. And if you can hit him and break and defeat him, the rewards are showers of sweet things.
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