On this Wikipedia the language links are at pinata district top of the page across from the article title. Piñatas are commonly associated with Mexico. The idea of breaking a container filled with treats came to Europe in the 14th century. A woman strikes a piñata at a celebration.

Although today, piñatas are typically used for a fun activity at parties, their origins lie in other customs. There is some debate but it appears that their origin is not Spanish but Chinese. Spain, the First Sunday of Lent, “Piñata Sunday”, became a celebration known as the Dance of the Piñata. The Mayan tradition was similar to the modern piñata tradition, including blindfolding the participant hitting the piñata. The Aztec tradition commemorated the birthday of Huitzilopochtli. The Mexican Catholic interpretation assigned meanings related to the Catholic doctrine of struggle against temptation, and used for catechism purposes.

However, since this time the piñata has all but lost its religious significance and has become popular in many types of celebrations, not just during December’s Las Posadas. The clay pot has been replaced with a papier-mâché container. The creation of piñatas has even taken on an artistic aspect in some areas. The piñata is most strongly identified with Mexico. The art of making modern piñatas falls under the Mexican craft heading of “cartonería”, which refers to the making of items from paper and cardboard. While the religious significance has been mostly lost, the ceremony that occurs with it has remained mostly intact. Piñatas remain most popular during Las Posadas with birthday parties coming in second.

Each participant, usually a child, will have a turn at hitting the piñata, which is hung from above on a string. Piñatas were traditionally made with a clay pot base and many artisans make a living selling just the pot for people to decorate as they wish. However, clay pot piñatas have mostly been replaced by those made with cardboard and papier-mâché, usually fashioned over balloons. Courtyard of the Government Palace of Chihuahua decorated for Christmas. Traditionally in Mexico, especially at Christmas, piñatas are filled with fruit and candies such as guavas, oranges, jicamas, pieces of sugar cane, tejocotes and wrapped candies. Some piñatas are “traps” filled with flour, confetti or water.

There are a number of localities in Mexico that specialize in the making of piñatas for sale. Acolman, the origin of piñatas, along with neighboring Otumba are one. Acolman hosts an annual National Piñata Fair. About 400 families in the town of San Juan de la Puerta, in the south of the Cuerámaro municipality in Guanajuato, are dedicated to the creation of piñatas, and produce about 16,000 pieces each month. The making of piñatas supports about half of the people in the town. It is the second most important economic activity after agriculture.

In the penal facility of Huajuapan de León, prisoners make piñatas to sell. This began when several prisoners brought the craft with them when they were incarcerated about twenty years ago. These piñatas have become traditional for the population of the city for Christmas. The busiest time for the sale of piñatas in Mexico is December for posadas.

During bad economic times, sales of piñatas can fall as much as thirty percent as they did in 2008. Store in Tabasco selling both traditional star-shape and contemporary design piñatas. The star shape, or ball with points, still remains popular for the Christmas season, but for other events, traditional designs such as donkeys have almost entirely been replaced by cartoon characters based on U. One niche market for piñatas in Mexico is of those themed for adults. These include political figures, especially those who are not particularly liked. Another type for the adult market are sexually-themed piñatas, mostly those in the form of exotic dancers and strippers.

Piñatas are similarly popular in a number of other Latin American countries as well. Piñatas have also become popular in Mexican-American and other Hispanic and Latino communities in the United States, as well as non-Hispanic populations. They are used for birthday parties, Christmas and Cinco de Mayo celebrations. The 2006 video game Viva Piñata is about a world where piñatas compete to be chosen for children’s birthday parties. A spinoff television show, also titled Viva Piñata was created to push sales of the Xbox game created by Microsoft.

A log is wrapped with a blanket several days in advance of Christmas and is “fed” grass. On Christmas Eve, the log is repeatedly struck with sticks in order to make the log “defecate”. The blanket is then removed to reveal the gifts that have been “expelled” by the log. In Italy feasts with a game similar to piñata, called pentolaccia, used to be celebrated the first Sunday of Lent. In Maharashtra, India, another similar tradition called Dahi Handi is observed on the festival of Janmashtami, Lord Krishna’s birthday. In Japan, a similar game called suikawari is played where a watermelon shell is used. Piñatas, una divertida tradición que no muere” .