A piñata can be shaped like an animal, a star, or another appearance.
A piñata is a container whose interior houses toys and candy , and which is broken during a celebration so that attendees can take its contents. The term comes from the Italian word pignatta .
The piñata usually has a cardboard structure , decorated with paper mache and various ornaments. It can also be a balloon . It is usually hung from the ceiling so that someone, with the help of a pin or a stick, can break it and allow the prizes to fall on the party guests. It is common for the person in charge of breaking the piñata to have their eyes covered by a blindfold, which makes the game more fun.
If the piñata is a large balloon , a sharp object, such as a pin, is used to break it. For piñatas made from other materials, there are two main ways to open them: pulling a rope or handle placed on their structure for this purpose; hitting it with a stick, such as a baseball bat .
Origin of piñatas
The explorer Marco Polo discovered piñatas on his journeys through China . In the Asian giant, the story goes, they were used to celebrate the arrival of a new year. In their European and, later, American versions, piñatas began to be used in religious ceremonies. Nowadays, piñatas are often used in children's birthday celebrations.
The first piñatas took on the appearance of a seven-pointed star , representing the deadly sins. By breaking the piñata, the individual demonstrated that he could overcome these sins , defeating them, while the fall of the prizes from the heights symbolized the treasures of the kingdom of heaven that the person received.
Today, piñatas have lost their religious status in many countries, taking on animal, abstract and other forms.
Breaking the piñata is a common game at children's birthday parties.
An Xbox 360 game
In 2006 , a video game titled "Viva Piñata" was published for the Xbox 360 console, developed by Rare , a British company known mainly for its greatest hits of the 90s , when it worked exclusively for Nintendo . The basic objective of the game is to protect a garden from animals that look like piñatas.
At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Piñata Island , where a famous gardener explains that his plants have been destroyed by Professor Pester , who in this way tries to take revenge for an old conflict between them. To carry out his evil plan, Pester sends his henchmen, who ruin everything in their path.
As players, our mission is to take care of said garden , planting a great diversity of plants and creating ponds. On the other hand, we will also have to attract new animals and get them to decide to stay in the garden. To carry out these and other tasks, we will receive the help of several characters, as well as prizes that the gardener will give us as we reach different goals.
Throughout the game, we will not only have to strive to rebuild the garden from the sorry state in which we received it, but to get the piñatas that visit it to decide to stay and reproduce, it is necessary that we meet certain requirements , different in each case.
"Viva Piñata" also had a version for PC and another for Nintendo DS . The latter, called " Pocket Paradise " presents several changes . Firstly, the use of the touch screen makes the controls much more intuitive than in its home console delivery; Furthermore, thanks to having two screens, it is possible to show the game space as well as detailed contextual information, very useful throughout the adventure.