Spanish Piñata Tradition
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Jacob Noren, Staff Reporter
January 17, 2012
Filed under Top Stories
Students worked vigorously the week before Christmas break began to finish their hand-crafted piñatas, part of the long tradition, in teacher Shelly Helland’s Spanish I class.
On the Monday before break the Spanish I students started work on the annual endeavor of the piñata project and the labor was not easy. Most students spent all their class time given and plenty of time at home paper mache-ing and applying tissue paper. There were many egg shaped piñatas and also some attention grabbing and intricate designs.
“The reason we make piñatas is to provide students with an experience that is both cultural and insightful,” said, Spanish teacher, Helland “students learn about hand-made crafts of Mexico and how much time it takes to create something by hand. They learn an appreciation for the effort involved in how to budget their time and about how incredible many of the crafts of Mexico truly are,” added Helland.
“I believe the Spanish project is a good way to give students a hands-on experience with the Mexican Culture,” said one Spanish I student.
Students were given instructions on how to build their piñata and were then expected to do everything themselves and were given the freedom to choose what their end result would be. The majority of the students put a lot of time and effort into creating some amazing designs.
“My favorite part of this project was having the choice to build whatever I wanted,” said the student.
“The goal is to learn about one small aspect of Mexican hand crafts, and to learn an appreciation for the time it takes to create these hand crafts,” said Helland.
On Friday the students all got their pictures taken with their piñatas. After the pictures were taken the students were asked if they would like to put candy in their piñatas and break them. Several students agreed and broke their piñatas in the center of the room while blind folded. Many of the students left their Spanish I class with their pockets full of candy.
The students spent a week of time working incredibly hard to finish the projects before break started and their work eventually paid off. There were many different and interesting designs that had some students in awe of their classmates work. The project was a great relief before being let out of school for the 2011 Christmas break, and most students and the project will hopefully go on for years to come.
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