Although historians believe that it is undoubted that the tradition of piñatas came from Spain, I like to believe that they came from Mexico. A piñata can be a fun festivity that you see at a party, or people who are religious, would know that they are meant to represent sin, and meant to be destroyed to vanquish evil. When my mother lived in Mexico, she had made piñatas with clay and filled it with nuts and oranges because her family didn’t have much money to fill them with candy. Equally important, my mother came here to the US she was 30 years old, and was the one that actually carried on the tradition of making piñatas to our family from her ancestors. Since then, and for as long as I can remember, I have seen and participated in the making and breaking the piñatas at parties and family events. We would often make a pinata and after this, we would decorate it to our liking and fill it with all sorts of candy treats and on special occasions like a birthday, money! I do believe that piñatas have helped express my identity and reveal part of my culture as a Latino. This is because piñatas are something that people usually associate with Mexico, where piñatas are very common. Furthermore, this object is an important part of my life because it has brought my family together, and has brought us all joy and happiness. This is something that I would never be able to trade, because real happiness these days is hard to come by.

– Diego Cendejas

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant