Calenda in the colonia

[bixaorellana]

Thanks, Mich. It was sort of fun. I went downtown yesterday, and when I returned and entered my neighborhood, I could see that preparations had been made ~


Right off the bat, I have to apologize for the quality of the photos. Unlike the calenda, where I could shoot over everyone's head at the giant figures, last night's event was a throng of mostly little kids. I didn't want to use the flash, so the results are not good.

This is how the decorations above looked by posada time ~
          

And that was in spite of last night's very big moon ~

Some of the light was provided by small children playing with matches. The candles were to light the sparklers and some small fireworks. The sparklers were tiny and quickly fizzled, but not quickly enough for the kids who had lit sparklers thrown at them.

The posada commemorates Joseph and Mary's quest to find shelter for the night in Bethlehem. The pilgrims go from house to house asking to be let in. Finally, one "innkeeper" takes pity. After that there were a lot of prayers in a very dark corner of that yard. I couldn't see or hear anything, but did get this "art" shot ~

There were supposed to be two piñatas, but the other donor reneged on her promise. This ticked me off, as I would have gotten a bigger one or a second one, if I had known. Everyone else who pledged to help did it wonderfully and generously. There was ample food and drink for everyone.

The young woman calling the kids to get in line for the piñata bashing is my neighbor who organized the whole thing. Sho did a brilliant job. Let's see how she corrals the kids ~

[bixaorellana]

She wanted to get all the really little children in front.
Finally they're sort of lined up, with clumps here and there.

Wow ~~ this is harder than it looks!

Let me try!
   

The Xoxo clipper ~

I didn't photograph every child who tried, but these are in sequence. They went boy-girl-boy-girl, etc.

[bixaorellana]

Hoo-boy ~~ will it never break?

I love "Mr. Reaction" on the far right in these two pictures ~

On the far left you can see the two guys in charge of raising and lowering the piñata ~


Now it's starting to break open. The kids, who have all been crowding too close to the flailing stick all along, are really throwing themselves in harm's way now ~

And here it comes!

Our intrepid organizer is trying to get the rest of the candy to spill out and yelling to let the tiny kids have a chance.


It's a free-for-all ~




After this, open-faced sandwiches on french bread were distributed (refried beans & shaved cabbage with optional salsa), along with hot punch and Friko (uncarbonated pop). Bags of spicy chicharrines (like fried pork rind, but actually a wheat product) were distributed and also little bags of candies.

People wandered home after that, although a neighbor made sure to tell me it will take place again tomorrow night on the street behind us.

[Deleted]

This is great. You shouldn't worry about the quality of the pictures. They have a sort of cinéma vérité authenticity about them. I particularly like picture #5 which has a kind of disquieting creepy mystery about it.

The intensity of the children is wonderful, but I seem to remember when I first learned of piñatas in school, one was supposed to try to hit the piñata blindfolded. Was this an American merging of the pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game with the piñata which was supposed to represent a donkey as well?

Or am I off my rocker?

I must confess that modern piñatas seem to resemble alien creatures with the extra streamers and stuff. Is this a recent modification over the original clay item?

[mich64]

The pictures are lovely Bix, I especially like the one with the little girl looking back when your story tells us the group is let into a yard to pray. She looks so unsure, should she be scared or not, adorable!

Kerouac, our pinata parties were the same, we were all blind folded when it was our turn to hit and the pinatas were made of cardboard and where usually donkeys that were brightly colored with tissue paper. Ah, happy memories. Pin-the-tail on the donkey, we were also blind folded.
Cheers,
Mich

[bixaorellana]

Thanks to both of you for the reassurances about the photos, and for the great comments.

I think you all are correct about the person with the stick being blindfolded. They're also sometimes spun around, just the way people are spun before trying to pin the tail on the donkey.

Every time I've seen a piñata around here, it's been rigged up like the one in these pictures, so that it can be raised and lowered and bounced. It seems that usually when really small children are given the stick, they're not blindfolded, as it's hard enough for them to connect with the swinging piñata anyway.

When you look up the history and background online, there's all kinds of religious symbolism attached to them. This is the kind of thing that I always suspect is academic b.s., since it seems more logical that various peoples over time would have figured out it would be fun to play a game where you break something with prizes inside.

I don't know if there was ever a "classic" piñata form. They are made to represent anything you can imagine, with the emphasis on cartoon characters and other stuff that appeals to children. A few years ago, Barney the dinosaur was really popular. After that, it was Sponge Bob. At Christmas time, the kinds with the points are seen everywhere.