History of the Piñata

Piñatas are an icon of Hispanic culture. You can find them included in parties such as birthdays and Posadas. They come in different shapes and sizes, are super colorful, and have become customizable to make them more fun to look at. Piñatas are usually made of breakable but solid materials such as clay, cardboard, wiring and paper mâché. While it’s now common to find piñatas based on characters like Spongebob or Peso Pluma, early piñatas were made in the shape of a circle with seven spikes poking out of them.

In the 16thcentury, Spanish missionaries who came to North America, used the brightly colored piñatas to attract converts to their ceremonies. However, the Aztecs already had a similar tradition, where they hit pots, covered with feathers, with a stick, to release tiny treasures inside. To make things more challenging, they covered their eyes, while hitting the pot.

Together, these two traditions came together to form the piñata many people know today.

¡Dale, dale, dale, No pierdas el tino!