Making Piñatas: Celebration Mexican-Style in North Louisiana

Making Piñatas: Celebration Mexican-Style in North Louisiana

By Barbara Chumley and Susan Roach

Introduction
The Bernice Mexican Community
Maintaining Traditions
Making the Pinata: The Process
Sharing the Tradition

Making the Piñata: The Process
To make a piñata with a box as the base, she first tapes the box lid together and then cuts a hole in the top as an entrance for candy and small toys.

Mrs. Lopez cuts an opening into the base of the
piñata so that candy or fruit can be added later.
Photo: Susan Roach.

To make the points for a traditional seven-point star piñata, she cuts the cardboard from cereal boxes in such a way as to be able to pull them together into a funnel shape. After securing the funnel (cone) shape with transparent packaging tape, she cuts notches at the base of the funnel and attaches the notches to the box base, also with tape.

Cardboard from cereal boxes is folded into
cones that will become the points of the star.
Photo: Susan Roach.
The cones (points of the star) are attached to each corner of the box with glue.
Photo: Susan Roach.

She wraps twine around all sides of the box and then ties it all together at the top of the box, directly above the hole.

The twine is knotted at the top of the piñata over the opening; it will be used to suspend the piñata when it's completed.
Photo: Susan Roach

Not only does this twine add strength to the piñata, but as Maria Lopez explains, it provides a secure way to attach the rope that suspends the piñata in the air: "You have to keep it secure, or else it will move, and you don't want it to fall."

After she has the shape of the piñata formed, she applies a layer of glued paper.

Mrs. Lopez glues the last piece of white paper to the piñata,
the final step before gluing on the decorative colored tissue
paper prepared by Mrs. Turrubiartes.
Photo: Susan Roach.

Along with the twine, this paper adds strength to the piñata. Adding strength is important because the stronger the piñata, the more candy it can hold. Mrs. Lopez prefers to fill the piñata with chewy candy rather than hard candy since hard candy breaks easily when children hit the piñata with a stick.

While Maria makes the form, Teresa makes fringe from lightweight tissue in assorted bright colors–red, white, blue, yellow, green, pink. This involves cutting strips of various colors of tissue paper about one-inch wide.

Teresa Turrubiartes assists Maria Lopez by folding
and cutting the tissue paper into strips that will be
used to decorate the piñata.
Photo: Susan Roach.

Then she makes deep cuts into each strip to form a fringe

Mrs. Turrubiartes creates tissue fringe by cutting small ribbon-like strips along one side of the larger strips of tissue.
Photo: Susan Roach.

Finally, she curls the fringe by gently scraping the sharp edge of scissor blade along one side of the fringed strip.

The thin ribbons of tissue paper are coaxed
into curls by gently scraping the sharp edge
of scissor blade along one side of the paper.
Photo: Susan Roach.
Teresa Turrubiartes smoothes the tissue as
she curls the fringe.
Photo: Susan Roach.

Next, Mrs. Lopez applies commercial craft glue to the structure and begins wrapping the fringed, curled strips of colored tissue paper to the surface of the piñata in bands two to three inches wide. When making a star-shaped piñata, she begins at the tip of each star point.

Tissue paper is glued on the piñata, starting at the tips of the star
points and moving toward the body.
Photo: Susan Roach.

She varies the bands of colors in such a way as to place a strong color, such as red or green, next to a weak color, such as pink or light blue.

Craft glue is used to attach the white paper
to the cardboard, as well as the tissue
paper to the white paper.
Photo: Susan Roach.

Her color design for a star-shaped piñata includes making opposite points of the star mirror images of each other and incorporating the same group of colors on all of the star points. She creates variety by placing different colors next to each other on pairs of star points.

The bands of tissue are carefully wrapped, with brighter
colors alternating with paler colors.
Photo: Susan Roach.

When asked how she puts colors together, Mrs. Lopez responds, "Sometimes I put red near white. . . Like this blue, it also can go near the yellow because it is strong."

Once she has covered all of the star points with fringed tissue paper, she begins to cover the box base. Finally the piñata is ready for the colored tissue paper tassels, which hang from each star point. She attaches these tassels with package tape.

Star points opposite each other should have matching color tips.
Here, Maria Lopez attaches tassels to the ends of the star points.
Photo: Susan Roach.

She will not fill the piñata until it is time for the fiesta.

When asked how she appraises a piñata, Mrs. Lopez commented that the best piñatas have a string wrapped around the base for strength and have an outer surface entirely covered with tissue paper. She also likes for the points on the star to be evenly placed so that the form is symmetrical. When the structure does not meet these strict aesthetic requirements, she is disappointed in it even though the piñata is destined for destruction. When these criteria are met, her final assessment is "how pretty it is." No matter how plentiful piñatas are and how cheap, Mrs. Lopez will probably never give up this craft or the others in which she participates; she gets so much pleasure from them. Besides, she says her piñatas are sturdier and prettier than most store-bought ones. "Because I like to make them. . . And it's cheaper too." Without doubt, this frugality has helped the community thrive.

Next: Sharing the Tradition

Barbara Chumley is an independent researcher and English instructor at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. Susan Roach is Regional Folklorist, for the Louisiana Regional Folklife Program at Louisiana Tech University. This essay is based on team fieldwork by Chumley, Roach, and Martha Brown, a native of Mexico City, now an educator in Union Parish schools. Special thanks go to Brown who made this project possible. Interview translations and transcription by Rachel Winchel, Regional Folklife Program, Louisiana Tech University. Photos by Susan Roach and Perla Hernandez. Digital photo processing and editing by Kerry Davis, Louisiana Tech University.