How not to break a pinata

So, over our Thanksgiving vacation to Utah we also celebrated my brother-in-law's 30th birthday. They threw a surprise party at their church building, but the surprised ones were the guests when birthday boy Teran walked in through a completely different door than all us party-goers. We were all watching the door we had used to enter the building when all of a sudden someone turned around and there was Teran! Surprise! But I digress...

At this birthday party there was a pinata that was overflowing with candy--and the good kind. Not the cheap, lead-filled Mexican candy I was used to as a kid. Let me start by saying that 99% of the people in attendance were anglos--white people, if you will. Growing up in a Mexican home, with Mexican parents, and Mexican friends we never realized that when it came to breaking a pinata those crazy white folks do it all wrong! They're all civilized and polite about the whole thing. Had this been a Mexican party it would have been complete chaos just to get the kids in line, and to keep them there--not at this party.

So they put all the kids in order of height, and had a plastic bat about 12 inches long to hit the pinata with. Mistake number one. Any Mexican would have known to use a broomstick if no special pinata breaking stick was available. None of the kids were blindfolded and then spinned around a bajillion times before they were set loose on the pinata...boring!

As the kids walked up to politely take their turn they would whack it 3 times and politely hand the bat back to the pinata coordinator and then--get this--get right back in line to have another turn!! This group had "novice" written all over it! Any seasoned pinata breaker knows that once you have your turn you stake out a good spot to enable you to be the first one to dive in when the pinata rained it's sweet goodness on you. And not only that--how many of you have been to a party where the kid willingly gives up the bat, so the next in line can have their turn? It usually turns into a shouting/wrestling match--sometimes the adults went as far as to taser the kid in order to get him to end his turn.

So, when my mother-in-law tried to get Lola to get back in line to wait for her next turn I quickly informed Lola that that was a bad move. Obviously, she saw it my way, and we found a prime spot--of course, this wouldn't have been very difficult cause all the other kids in attendance (the white kids) were all lining up, one behind the other--putting the last kid in line considerably farther away from the pinata than the rest of them.

When at last that pinata was split open guess who the first one was to dive in? That's right...ME! I'm sure all the adults there thought I was insane, after all, wasn't the pinata meant for kids? To this I say "No way, Jose!" Any Mexican will tell you that once that pinata breaks it is a free-for-all--kids getting trampled on and smothered by adults. It's a complete no-holds-barred wrestling match. There are always a handful of kids that end up crying cause some grown-up stole all their candy, and we all would just laugh--cause it was funny! But at this surprise party I was the only one over the age of 10 to jump in, and we scored tons of delicious candy!

The best part was when one of the little kids there dropped his baggie of pinata loot and all these kids went diving for it (including me). His older brother was ENRAGED and yelled at the top of his lungs: "THAT'S MY BROTHER'S CANDY!!!!!" He proceeded to cry uncontrollably. I was tempted to point and laugh, but since the party was being held in a church building I felt a little bad, and had Lola impart of her loot to get this crybaby to shut his trap.

This isn't the first time I've been part of such pinata breakings--so I know this wasn't the exception to the rule. But it still amazes me every time I see it. Maybe it's cause we were poor growing up, and the thought of free food brought out the animal instincts in us, or maybe it's cause we're Mexican, and we all know how those Mexicans are...