Thursday, December 01, 2005

El piñatero/ The Piñata Maker



Today is my birthday and to celebrate it with my companeros and readers at La Bloga, I thought I would share one of my favorite birthday memories as well as do my usual Thursday review.

I love piñatas! They hold a special place in my heart and memories. When I was seven years old, my grandfather brought back from Mexico a beautiful, traditional piñata called piñata de picos. It was gorgeous with tons of brightly colored paper and streaming tassles on each cone. I remember being so excited when it was time to break it. We sang the pinata song, dale dale dale... The best part of all was when one of my cousins broke it and we found it was made of clay. Each of us children kept a shard and I still have mine all these years later.

El piñatero/ The Piñata Maker is a fantastic little photo journal about a piñata maker. There are full color photos of the process of making piñatas. It is the story of Tio Rico, a traditional piñata maker. His pinatas are exquisite, especially the Swan which is elegant and feels almost alive. There are pages dedicated to my favorite, the pinata de picos, my birthday pinata. I was thrilled to find this amazing little book dedicated to an almost lost art. No Spongebob pinatas or tacky Ninja turtles made of cheap paper and plastic in this book. It's a treasure and I share it with you on my 44th birthday in the hopes of reviving the art so that our children can be as enchanted as I was on my seventh birthday.

Hasta pronto.

Gina MarySol Ruiz

7 comments:

  1. Let me add my best wishes to you on your birthday and also a big abrazo for all the great books you have introduced to me (and my grandson). Have fun.

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  2. Feliz muchos más, vieja.

    RudyG

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  3. Thank you all for your birthday wishes and the abrazos. I am spending this one quietly with no pinata but next year I want to have a hell raising party with mariachis, food and a pinata. You're all invited!

    Sol

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  4. Happy belated birthday wishes,Gina.

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  5. I LOVE this book. I found it at a little bookstore in LA one time and I read it to my students every year. They also enjoy it.

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  6. Happy Belated Birthday. Hopefully you spent it reading a lot of great books!

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  7. Great blog! I just found out about it on the CHicken Spaghetti blog and posted a link to my blog and my website. Felz Cumpleanos!!
    I met George Ancona..he's a great man..very gracious, and his photos and books are wonderful.

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