Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. Hi,
Speaker 1: my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Artifact,
Speaker 1: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,
Speaker 1: focusing in on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time.
Speaker 1: Chances are you've probably swung a broom handle at a
Speaker 1: pinata before you know how this works. A brightly colored
Speaker 1: paper mache, pottery, paper, cardboard, or cloth container is stuffed
Speaker 1: full of candy or other treats and raised and lowered
Speaker 1: by a rope as a blindfolded contestant takes wax at it.
Speaker 1: After a few hysterical misses and punishing hits, the container
Speaker 1: bursts and spills these treats on the ground to be
Speaker 1: snatched up by eager hands. It's an activity and craft
Speaker 1: strongly linked with Mexican customs, and is all so so
Speaker 1: widely spread that it's easy to just take for granted.
Speaker 1: I know, I did till I visited the Pinatas exhibit
Speaker 1: at the Mengae International Museum in San Diego, California, running
Speaker 1: through April thirty, twenty twenty three. The exhibit celebrates pinatas
Speaker 1: as both a traditional craft and a form of contemporary art.
Speaker 1: Sometimes aimed at social and political commentary. It was really
Speaker 1: an eye opening exhibit from me into both the material
Speaker 1: culture and the cutting humor of pinadas, and artists are
Speaker 1: continuing to do a lot with this medium today. Another
Speaker 1: area I'd never personally explored is the origin of the pinata,
Speaker 1: a topic that the exhibit acknowledges is somewhat understudied. It
Speaker 1: cites a twenty eighteen paper by Young Chin published in
Speaker 1: the Fudan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences titled From
Speaker 1: the Dachinu to the Pinata, Tracing the alleged Chinese origin
Speaker 1: of a Mexican tradition. In the paper, Chin explores the
Speaker 1: possible connection between the Chinese traditions surrounding the docunu, or
Speaker 1: beating or lashing of the spring cattle, and the Mexican
Speaker 1: pinata tradition. The Dacinu is an old springtime ritual in
Speaker 1: which a large clay statue of an ox is filled
Speaker 1: with seeds and then shattered by the emperor or an
Speaker 1: imperial representative, scattering its contents on the ground. The ritual
Speaker 1: performance is still practiced in China today. The hypothesis then,
Speaker 1: is that this practice may have spread from China to
Speaker 1: Italy via the Silk Road and or the travels of
Speaker 1: Marco Polo during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The name
Speaker 1: pinata may be derived from pigna, a clay pot in
Speaker 1: the shape of a pine cone in Italian traditions. Around
Speaker 1: this time, Italian Linton customs sometimes entailed the shattering of small,
Speaker 1: simple clay vessels filled with fruits or sweets. So it
Speaker 1: is then proposed that this practice spread to the Americas
Speaker 1: in the sixteenth century via Catholic Spanish missionaries who use
Speaker 1: the practice as both a Catholic religious celebration and an
Speaker 1: indoctrination tool for indigenous peoples. Now, obviously this is the
Speaker 1: sort of practice that would just be inherently fun, as
Speaker 1: this sort of ritual transcends language and beliefs, at least
Speaker 1: in just the basic practice of shattering something, breaking something,
Speaker 1: and finding a reward within. But it may also have
Speaker 1: found a foothold in indigenous practices due to precontact rituals
Speaker 1: of shattering clay pots in devotion to the Aztec solar
Speaker 1: deity Withsulopotli. Now that's a long journey across multiple continents
Speaker 1: and cultures, so the question remains, Is it possibly true?
Speaker 1: Well Chin contends that we might tentatively attribute the origins
Speaker 1: of the pinyada to Chinese customs, but that there's insignificant
Speaker 1: evidence to make any definitive conclusions. So whatever the pinyada's
Speaker 1: origins Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Aztec, or some mixture of them,
Speaker 1: the pinata has become cemented as a distinctly Mexican and
Speaker 1: Latin American tradition with broad international appeal. Tune in for
Speaker 1: additional episodes of The Artifact or The Monster Fact each week.
Speaker 1: As always, you can email us at contact at stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your
Speaker 1: Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from
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