Piñatas!

My favorite small museum in Mexico City is the Museum of Popular Arts.  I have written about it many times on this blog, and I visit it often because there are frequent special exhibitions in addition to its permanent collection.

The museum sponsors a number of contests to promote the continuation of Mexican handicrafts.  On one visit I saw the entries for their kite contest, and, as you well know, if you read this blog, they sponsor the "alebrije" parade each October.  Last week, I returned to see the entries for their 15th annual piñata contest.  

(Just in case you don't know, a piñata is a papier mâché figure colorfully decorated and filled with candy, and it is an iconic element of the celebration of Christmas in Mexico.)

There are more than 230 entries in this year's contest.  The piñatas are hung from the balconies of the courtyard of the art deco building which was originally Mexico City's main fire station.

Here are some of the piñatas...

This figure represents one of the food vendors who sell their wares from canoes on the canals of the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco.

This piñata includes one of Mexico City's best known landmarks, the Palace of Fine Arts.

Here is another Mexico City landmark, the Monument to the Revolution.

This one represents the masked face of Santo, probably the most famous "lucha libre" wrestler.

A few of its "feathers" are drooping, but this one is an Aztec headdress.

Here we have a beehive.

A Mayan noble

A mermaid

An elderly woman

Who would want to smash "granny" with a stick?

The head of the ancient, feathered-serpent god, Quetzalcoatl

An "axolotl", a salamander-like animal that lives in the canals of Xochimilco

A number of the piñatas were "catrinas", skulls and skeletons, more appropriate for Day of the Dead than for Christmas.

One of my favorites was this very traditional piñata.  The piñata was supposedly introduced as a teaching tool by Spanish missionaries.  The figure had seven cones which represented the seven deadly sins.  If you defeated sin and broke the piñata, you were rewarded with treats showering down on you.

If you are in Mexico City and want to see the piñatas at the Museum of Popular Arts, hurry, because they will only be on display until December 12th!