For the past several centuries, piñatas have been used in Latin American countries to celebrate birthdays and La Posada (9 days preceeding Christmas Eve). However, legend has dated the piñata’s origin back to 14th century China.
Supposedly, Chinese farmers used objects similar to what we now know as piñatas in ceremonies to ensure a fruitful harvest. These objects where clay pots decorated with colorful paper shaped to look like farm animals.
It is also believed that Marco Polo discovered these Chinese traditions in his expeditions and passed them to the Europeans in the 14th century. Around the 16th century, Spanish missionaries introduced the piñata to the Aztec Indians in Mexico. Missionaries used the piñata in a ceremony meant to convert the Aztecs to Christianity.
In this ceremony, clay pots—called canteros— were decorated with colored paper and seven cones were fashioned to shape the now traditional star piñata (la estrella)—at that time, meant to represent the seven deadly sins (greed, gluttony, pride, envy, wrath, sloth and lust). The participants (converts) were blindfolded as a representation of blind faith and spun 33 times in memory of how many years Christ lived. The stick they used to break the piñata signified goodwill.
The piñata was filled with such items as fruit, candy and coins which represented the temptations of Satan. However, once the piñata was broken and the treasures fell out, they represented gifts for keeping the faith in goodness and are shared amoung the believers.
The Aztec Indians embraced the pinatas, but not all Mexican Indians used them for the purpose intended by the Spanish Missionaries; and so, the piñata’s meaning was redefined by the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Although converted Mexican Indians performed the Christian ceremonies, other Aztecs adopted the pinata to use in their own religious ceremonies to honor the Aztec God of War.
This ceremony involved a priest placing a colorfully decorated clay pot on a pole in the temple at year’s end and filling it with treasures. When the pot was broken, the treasures fell to the feet of the God’s image. This represented an offering of gifts to the God.
The traditional estrella pinatas (star pinatas) are still used in religious ceremonies called Posadas—although the seven pointed star represents the Star of Bethlehem that led Los Peregrinos (The Pilgrims) to the Christ’s Nativity. Posadas take place nine days before Dec 24th and are meant to re-enact Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem. Learn more about La Posada.
Today, pinatas come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors and can be filled with candy, toys, confetti, and other treasures. The children are still blindfolded and spun around—typically once for each year of their age—although probably more for the entertainment of watching a dizzy child swing at a piñata hanging from a tree than to represent any religious connotation.
