Spanish Celebrations

During the frigid weeks of January, a Spanish class at Cardin was learning about “celebrations”. One of the prevalent customs in the festivities of Spanish cultures is the breaking open of a container filled with candies and toys.  While the custom is believed to have originated in China, in Italy in the 1600’s candies were placed in mud jars and then broken open with a stick. These celebratory customs were brought to the Spanish-speaking world by the Italians and Spaniards and have been adopted into these cultures. Celebrations unite family and friends during joyful times and sad times. The main purpose is for communal support and sharing. So, we can say the candies and gifts in a container which is broken open is a way of sharing. Some children will get exactly what they want, others will leave crying. This is symbolic of the joys and the sadness of life. Both are necessary in our journey.

In the Spanish III class, students created their own craft (a piñata), played a game together (broke it open with a stick to make candies fall out), and gave one another a gift (the gift of sharing the experience together). We talked about the value of family and relationships in the Hispanic cultures and observed that, although there are many variations in how families of other cultures celebrate, the needs and purpose of “celebrations” is the same. Do you ever wonder how our future celebrations will change as the U.S. and Latin America and Spain continue to share each ones’ customs and festivities? For me, it sounds like lots more “fun”.

~Rosemarie Steinberg
Spanish Instructor