Ancient Chinese Roots
Marco Polo encountered a forerunner of the piñata in China during the late 13th century. He found the Chinese making small ceremonial cows, oxen and buffalo to celebrate the new year or the approach of spring. They decorated the figures with brightly colored paper and ribbons, filled them with seeds and hung them from trees. Later, they broke the hanging figures by striking them with colored sticks. They burned the remains and saved the ashes in the hope they would bring good luck and abundant harvests in the new year.
European Adaptations
On his return to Italy in the 14th century, Marco Polo brought back one of these small figures.The Catholic church adopted and reinterpreted the Chinese ritual. The Christian faithful began to observe the first Sunday of Lent by placing little treasures -- rather than seeds -- in a fragile pot known as a "pignatta," according to La Prensa San Diego. Later the custom spread to Spain, where the Lenten celebration further developed into a fiesta called the "Dance of the Piñata."
Spanish Missionary Influences
In the 16th century, in what is now Mexico, Spanish missionaries used the piñata to attract the locals to mission celebrations and to instruct them in Church teachings. A practice similar to the piñata already existed among the Aztecs and according to "USA Today," "the monks were looking for a way to Christianize a ... festival celebrating the birth of the Aztec god Huitzlipochtli." So in August 1587, with the Pope's permission, they performed outdoor Masses and processions that coincided with the Indian holiday. They used "La Estrella," a piñata shaped like a seven-pointed star, which represented the seven deadly sins. The blindfolded participant striking at the piñata represented blind faith, and the brightly colored stick with which he broke the piñata represented the virtue needed to combat evil. The spilled candies and fruits represented the just reward for keeping faith.