The Next Threat To Our Way Of Life - Piñatas

While wandering around that Internet thingy I came across this drivel. At first I though it was a joke, but no ... the moonbat that wrote this claptrap is serious.

Yet another sign that the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Pinatas: A Bad Idea for Your Child's Party?

A blindfolded child is let up to some poor helpless papier-mâché animal hanging off a tree by a string. They have a stick or a bat in their hand, and they proceed to whack the animal with all their might. Other children are cheering on the fight. When the piñata is broken open, candy spills out. Everyone rushes to grab as much candy as they can. It's every kid for them self.

Doesn't sound like such a good party game when it's put like that, huh?

Piñatas are not a good idea for your child's party. Children should never hit anything with a stick...

People carefully teach their children, from the first time they playfully hit as a baby, that hitting is wrong ... But then children are allowed to hit piñatas to the breaking point. Then they get candy; they are rewarded for violent behavior!

As for the candy that spills out afterwards, each child is quickly grabbing as much as they can. Whatever happened to sharing? Not to mention that all that candy isn't that great for your child's health. And what about the shy kids, or the kids who aren't pushy? They end up with much less than everyone else. Is that how they're rewarded for their better behavior?

So what are some better alternatives? There are now pull-string piñatas...which get rid of the hitting element. Your child pulls a string and the contents of the piñata fall out. That way, your child can have the experience of having a piñata at their party, without the violence. Fill it with healthy snacks or toys. Have a set number of toys or snacks inside and tell the children before hand how many of each thing they can each pick out. Or have a set number of the same kind of thing for each child, and have the birthday child pass out the toys/snacks to each of the other children. If you really want the children to have the experience of all grabbing after the piñata contents, let them, but at the end, observe each child and see if anyone seems to have not gotten as much. Then find a kid or kids who got a lot and ask them if they would like to share with the kid/kids who didn't get enough.

Words fail me ... almost.

A pull-string piñata? That's like a Virgin Mary - all tomato juice, no vodka. In other words, no fun.

As for asking kids to share their hard-earned candy with those who have less, well, that's a great way to train future socialists. Maybe we should have kids from other neighborhoods occupy your backyard until they get their fair share as well.

Not to mention that piñatas can trace their heritage all the way back to ancient China. Marco Polo brought them to Europe, where the Spanish adapted them to religious ceremonies. A traditional piñata represents Satan, with seven points or cones that represent the seven deadly sins.

The person with the stick is blindfolded to represent faith. Turning the piñata-beater imitates the disorientation that temptation creates. Beating the piñata portrays the struggle between faith and temptation. When the piñata breaks, the treats inside are symbolic of the rewards that come when faith triumphs over temptation and evil.

Statue of Franciscan monk hitting a piñata in Acolman, Mexico (from here)

So scorning the traditional piñata is denigrating the ethnicity of Asian and Hispanic peoples, along with promoting Satanism.

Most unenlightened...