Episode 106: Costumbres - Piñatas in Mexico

Julián Meconetzin Rangel Sosa learned how to craft piñatas when he was a kid. So when he launched his own business, he also taught children in schools how to make them, passing the custom onto the next generation.

How to Listen

Listen free on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Transcript

Martina: In the fall of 2019, Julián Meconetzin Rangel Sosa had been preparing for weeks for the biggest event in his hometown of Acolman. Every year, the town near Mexico City hosts a piñata festival, or feria. Julián had been working long 13-hour days, as he crafted and prepared dozens of piñatas by hand. He was exhausted, but feeling calm and ready for the day ahead.

Julián: Recuerdo la noche de la feria en el 2019. Yo llegué temprano con piñatas para vender y con los materiales para enseñar cómo hacerlas.

Martina: In Acolman, artisans like Julián have been making piñatas for over 400 years. The brightly-decorated, papier-maché containers are filled with fruit, sweets, or decorations. At parties, the piñata is hung from a rope, while people take turns trying to break it open with a stick and get the treats inside. The town’s annual festival celebrates the whole custom, and this year, Julián played a central role.

Julián: Casi dos mil personas y treinta vendedores estaban en la feria. ¡Había muchas piñatas y se veían muchos colores! Yo conocía a todas las personas que estaban vendiendo piñatas ahí y algunas eran mis exalumnas. Estar ahí fue muy agradable para mí.

Martina: Bienvenidos and welcome to a special season of the Duolingo Spanish Podcast. I’m Martina Castro. This season, we’re exploring customs, or costumbres from the Spanish-speaking world, to help you improve your Spanish listening, and to learn more about daily life in other cultures.

The storyteller will be using intermediate Spanish and I’ll be chiming in for context in English. If you miss something, you can always skip back and listen again. We also offer full transcripts at podcast.duolingo.com.

Today we’re heading to Mexico to learn more about the custom of piñatas…and please note that Julián’s story is being presented by a voice actor.

Martina: Piñatas have always been a part of Julián’s life. Growing up in Mexico, he would celebrate birthday parties, Christmas, and other holidays with this festive decoration.

Julián: A veces rompo piñatas en Año Nuevo o en Navidad. Me gusta romper piñatas porque me pone feliz. Y las piñatas son para eso, para romperlas y divertirse.

Martina: At celebrations, guests would take turns trying to break open, or romper the piñatas and claim the prize inside — all while blindfolded! Meanwhile, the rest of the party-goers would sing a song to mark the turns.

Later on, piñatas became much more important to Julián. In 2008, when he was 12 years old, Julián and his friends heard about a piñata-making competition. If they managed to win the contest, they could get a cash prize — which was exciting! There was just one problem, though: Julián knew nothing about making piñatas.

Julián: Pero eso no me preocupó mucho. Mis amigos y yo decidimos hacer una piñata tradicional en forma de estrella.

Martina: Those traditional piñatas have a round center with five or seven cones attached, making the shape of a star. To get started, Julián and his friends approached a local businessman who made piñatas. He said he could help them with the star’s basic structure.

Julián: Mis amigos y yo compramos la estructura de la piñata. El señor pegó los conos porque nosotros no sabíamos cómo hacerlo. Fue muy barato, solo nos costó dos litros de Coca Cola.

Martina: Next, they had to figure out how to decorate, or decorar, the figure. Usually, these traditional piñatas have ribbons and shiny paper. But Julián and his friends did something different.

Julián: Nuestra idea fue decorarla con cosas naturales, así que usamos plantas, semillas y hojas de maíz. No recuerdo cuánto dinero ganamos, ¡pero ganamos un premio!

Martina: Their creativity paid off…they won the competition! And soon, the businessman who helped get them started made Julián an offer — just when he was looking for a way to fill his spare time.

Julián: Yo tenía mucho tiempo libre. El dueño del negocio de piñatas nos dijo: “Si quieren, vengan y les enseño a hacer piñatas”. Luego, nos ofreció un trabajo y nos pagaba cinco o seis pesos por decorar las piñatas más pequeñas.

Martina: That’s how Julián learned the craft of making piñatas, at one of the more renowned shops in Acolman. He first learned how to make the classic star-shaped piñata and earned around a dollar for every four figures he made.

Julián: Yo trabajaba allí después de la escuela, de cuatro de la tarde a ocho de la noche. El señor nos pagaba poco, pero para un niño era mucho.

Martina: One of Julián’s tasks was to make the center of those star-shaped piñatas. He would get a balloon, put the papier-maché around it and attach the cones to make the star. Finally, he decorated the piñatas with the brightest-colored tissue paper he could find.

Julián: Me gusta mucho el rojo, el rosa, el azul, el amarillo y el verde. Siempre elijo los colores más bonitos y brillantes. Para mí, crear algo es importante porque es una forma de relajar el cerebro.

Martina: The shop’s busiest time of year was during the Christmas season in Mexico, or las posadas, which means “inns” in English. In Christianity, las posadas represent the time when Mary and Joseph searched for a place to stay before the birth of Jesus. Back when Julián’s mom was growing up, people traditionally opened their homes to neighbors during las posadas, who dropped in to eat, drink, and break open piñatas.

Julián: Mi mamá tiene recuerdos muy lindos del tiempo de las posadas. Ella iba de casa en casa a ver las piñatas que las personas habían hecho. Y si tenía suerte, a lo mejor le podía pegar a una piñata. Desafortunadamente, esa tradición se ha perdido un poco y ahora es más normal tener fiestas privadas.

Martina: Back then, homes would often have traditional, star-shaped piñatas with seven points, which represented the seven deadly sins, or pecados, from the Christian tradition. The bright colors symbolized vanity and temptation, and the person with the stick was supposed to represent faith.

Julián: La piñata representa la tentación del pecado. Entonces, cuando le pegas a una piñata e intentas romperla, estás golpeando el mal y los dulces son el premio por destruir el mal.

Martina: Today that spiritual lesson isn’t as important for most people as the sheer fun of breaking open piñatas at parties. As Julián became more involved in piñata-making, he also became more interested in the custom’s history. He learned that piñatas haven’t always been about Christian beliefs. They’ve long been entwined with indigenous Mexican traditions — roots that Julián is fiercely proud of.

Julián: Actualmente, las piñatas son una mezcla de la cultura china y la mexicana. Se dice que el explorador Marco Polo descubrió las piñatas en China y les llevó la idea a los Padres Agustinos. Después, ellos trajeron la idea a México.

Martina: The Christian friars used the papier-maché decorations to teach their faith, but they also incorporated indigenous customs. The Aztecs had their own version of the piñata that goes back to the 15th century.

Julián: Yo busqué la historia de la piñata en internet para entender mejor su origen. Una vez, leí una tesis universitaria que describía la importación de las piñatas y ahí hablaban de la historia azteca.

Martina: Julián read that the Aztecs marked the birthday of their god of war in the final days of December by smashing clay pots, or ollas de barro, decorated with ribbons and feathers and filled with small treasures. The contents that spilled out were seen as an offering to the gods.

Julián: Los aztecas tenían varias cosas en sus ollas de barro, como frutas, semillas y otras cosas de valor espiritual. La piñata era una mezcla de muchas ideas.

Martina: As Julián became more fascinated with piñatas and their history, he honed his skills, working at the shop in Acolman after school. He wanted to keep going as an artisan. And as luck would have it, the Mexican government wanted him to make piñatas, too! He got a spot in a government program for young entrepreneurs.

Julián: En 2015, cuando yo tenía veinte años, el gobierno me ofreció un curso de negocios. Estudié en línea durante un año y después recibí una ayuda financiera. Me sentí muy feliz y emocionado porque recibí dinero suficiente para empezar mi negocio.

Martina: Julián was thrilled — he now could open up his own piñata business! Even with the financial support, he hunted high and low for the best priced supplies.

Julián: Usamos el dinero para comprar todo el material: mesas, sillas, tijeras, papel y otras cosas. Siempre compramos papel nacional de segunda mano porque es más barato, pero muy bonito.

Martina: But, competition in Acolman was tough. Known as the birthplace of piñatas in Mexico, there were some families that had crafted them for generations. And Julián was technically a newcomer.

Julián: Yo sabía que empezar mi negocio no iba a ser fácil, ¡pero quería intentarlo!

Martina: In 2015, seven years after Julián first learned how to make piñatas, he launched his own business. It quickly became a family enterprise with Julián, his mom, and his dad.

Julián: Así que, en el año 2015, mi familia y yo decidimos abrir nuestro negocio y llamarlo “Pomposa”. Nuestra actividad principal es hacer piñatas artesanales de cinco o siete conos.

Martina: Their house was filled with piñatas, at various stages of production. Julián and his mom made the papier-maché containers, decorated them and sold them. Julián was so excited that he celebrated their business…with a tattoo.

Julián: En realidad, yo no pensaba hacerme un tatuaje. Solo acompañé a un amigo a tatuarse, pero después decidí que yo también quería uno. Elegí el logotipo de mi negocio que yo diseñé. Mi mamá lo vio en Facebook y se enojó mucho.

Martina: The second part of the business came from his mom’s idea. Instead of just selling piñatas, what if they taught the craft to children, in workshops? At the time, there were no piñata shops offering classes to kids in Acolman.

Julián: Además de hacer piñatas, también damos clases en escuelas y ferias. Les enseñamos a los niños la historia de las piñatas y a decorarlas.

Martina: That’s because Julián and his mom didn’t just think of the workshops as part of their fledgling business. They thought it was important to preserve the piñata tradition, passing it down to future generations, who could make their own techniques and styles. The only issue was, Julián was anxious about leading classes. Still, he gave it a try. Their first class was at a nearby fair.

Julián: No hacíamos piñatas grandes, solo pequeñas. Yo llevé veinte o treinta piñatas para enseñarles a los niños a decorarlas. En noviembre de ese mismo año fuimos a otro festival para el Día de Muertos. Y ahí vendimos más o menos cien piñatas. ¡Las clases fueron un éxito!

Martina: The workshops for children at the local fair were so successful that Julián and his mom approached the local school where his sister was a teacher.

Julián: Recuerdo la primera vez que fuimos a una escuela. Yo estaba nervioso porque no tenía experiencia dando clases en una escuela. Al principio no quería hablar, pero, poco a poco, con la práctica, comencé a hacerlo. Las clases son una buena manera de ganar dinero, pero además de eso, son divertidas.

Martina: For the classes, Julián and his mom would take undecorated, small, five-star piñatas for children to decorate. They were the perfect size for kids — only about seven inches big! Julián would set out the glue, colored tissue paper, and other materials.

Julián: Les enseñamos a trabajar con papel, les hablamos de la historia de las piñatas y les damos un crucigrama. El objetivo era hacer actividades divertidas y educativas para ellos y compartir nuestras tradiciones.

Martina: The crossword puzzle, or crucigrama, was a game for the kids to learn about the history of the piñata. Afterwards, the children were free to decorate with paste, glitter, confetti and more. Julián and his mom often welcomed parents who couldn’t pay for all their children. They cared more about sharing the custom of piñatas than earning money.

Julián: Nosotros les regalamos las piñatas a los niños con pocos recursos. En una feria, una niña me dijo: “Me gustaría decorar la piñata, pero mi mamá no la puede pagar”. Entonces, yo le respondí: “No hay problema, la puedes hacer sin pagar”. Todos los niños deben tener la posibilidad de aprender. Creo que eso es importante. Entonces, ella hizo su piñata y después llegaron muchos otros niños.

Martina: By 2019, Julián’s piñata business and workshops were thriving. That year, he made 7,000 piñatas, taught in 22 schools and reached hundreds of children. Julián got a lot of satisfaction when he saw his students create their own designs.

Julián: Por ejemplo, una de mis ex alumnas cortó una parte de la piñata de manera diferente y se veía muy bonita. Otras chicas también cambiaron la forma de los conos. Para mí no es importante si cambian el diseño porque igual se puede ver bien. Al final, todas las personas tienen su estilo.

Martina: Julián felt proud, or orgulloso, to see children make the craft their own…and even more so when some of his students went on to sell their own creations.

Julián: Me siento muy orgulloso. Ellos trabajan muy duro para vender sus piñatas y vivir mejor. Eso me parece increíble. Y me siento muy feliz porque les enseñé las cosas que sé y les ayudé con su trabajo.

Martina: Julián Meconetzin Rangel Sosa lives in Acolman with his mom. He is working to rebuild his piñata business, as Mexico recovers from the global pandemic. Julián is inspired by his father, who played an important role in the business before he passed away from COVID. Julián still makes piñatas in his favorite, bright colors.

This story was produced by Lexie Harrison-Cripps, who’s based in Mexico City. And thanks to Javier Basurto who voiced Julián’s story.

We'd love to know what you learned about Mexico’s culture in this episode! You can write us an email at podcast@duolingo.com and call and leave us a voicemail or audio message on WhatsApp, at +1-703-953-93-69. Don’t forget to say your name and where you’re from!

Here’s a message we recently got from Luke in the United States:

Luke: I really loved the story of the Bike Nomad. It's a great example of a very successful man who's put passion and service above money, and I really was interested in that. Thank you so much for the podcast and keep them going!

Martina: Thank you so much for listening, Luke! That episode was inspired by listeners just like you!

If you liked this story, please share it! You can find the audio and a transcript of each episode at podcast.duolingo.com. You can also follow us on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite listening app, so you never miss an episode.

With over 500 million users, Duolingo is the world's leading language learning platform, and the most downloaded education app in the world. Duolingo believes in making education free, fun, and available to everyone. To join, download the app today, or find out more at duolingo.com.

The Duolingo Spanish podcast is produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media. I’m the executive producer, Martina Castro. ¡Gracias por escuchar!

Credits

This episode was produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media.