1. La historia de la piñata
Mark in Pink for culture.

2. Bellwork – 21 de noviembre
In a zombie apocalypse, where in a city or town would you hide? (use one of your Spanish Vocab words for locations)
Write the following in Spanish:
I go to the river on the bus.
Bob goes to the gym on a bike.
Tom y Natalie go to the church walking.
Tú ______(ir) _______(the hospital)_____(on a subway)

3. Piggies

4. Piñatas
Currently, piñatas are used at birthday parties, cinco de mayo parties, and just parties in general around the world.
But where did Piñatas begin?
There is still a lot of speculation, but today we will learn what most researchers believe.

5. China
Believe it or not, most researchers believe that the piñatas began in China and were not of Hispanic origin initially.
It is believed that the famous traveler, Marco Polo, went to China on one of his many travels and saw members of the Chinese community making animals out of papier-mâché and filling them with seeds. The Chinese hit them with sticks on New Years. They believed this was good luck.

6. Italy and Spain
Marco Polo went back to his home country, Italy, and shared this information. Spain and Italy were very close and he shared this information with Spain as well.
The first time a piñata is believed to be used in Hispanic culture was during festivals in Spain for la pascua. The outer shell was actually quite hard. It was made out of clay (like what we use in gardens for clay pots). It was filled with toys and candy.

7. Originally, the clay pots for piñatas were not decorated
Originally, the clay pots for piñatas were not decorated. They were called “ollas” (pots) until someone saw that the shape resembled a pineapple. The name for pineapple in Spanish is piña. According to legend, this name eventually became transformed into piñata. Piñatas also began to become decorated and colorful.
They were colorful before the Spanish conquistadores came to Mexico.

8. Mexico
It is believed that this became wildly popular in Mexico and that this is where piñatas returned to being made out of papier-mâché. They are currently played at birthday parties, Christmas, and other festivals in Mexico.
People all around the world have piñatas at parties now as well.