Piñata

A pi?ta with the German flag colors, during a Mexican celebration in that country A pi?ta with the German flag colors, during a Mexican celebration in that country

The pi?ta is a bright candy-and-toy-filled container (generally suspended on a rope from a tree branch or ceiling) that is used during celebrations. A succession of blindfolded, stick-wielding children try to break the pi?ta in order to collect the candy inside of it. It has been used for hundreds of years to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas.

Spanish colonizers are thought to have started the pi?ta tradition in Mexico; then the tradition went on to the Italians. However, Gavin Menzies argues that the pi?ta was brought to Mexico by Chinese sailors about 1421, ([1]see Part VI, Annex 25). According to legend, Marco Polo introduced the pi?ta to the Italians after discovering it in the Orient.

Pi?tas are made from easily breakable materials, such as straw, papier-m?h? or clay; traditionally they were made in the shape of human or animal figures (often a donkey) but, in recent times, vehicles, cartoon characters, or corporate mascots have gained in popularity.

In Mexico, the pi?ta is traditionally shaped like a seven pointed star. It represents the devil and the seven deadly sins; hitting it with the stick makes him let go of the good things he has taken hold of. While hitting the pi?ta the following rhyme is sung:

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 acab?

which translates as:

Hit it, hit it, hit it
Don't lose your aim
Because if you lose it
You will lose your way.
You have hit it once
You have hit it twice
You have hit it thrice
And your time is over now!

Other meanings

The word pi?ta was also used for the process whereby Nicaragua's former Sandinista leaders held on to property they had nationalized while in power. The successor government accepted these appropriations.

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