When I was kid growing up Easter time was special. Not only did it represent the resurrection of our lord and savior Jesus Christ but it meant family time. On the Saturday before Easter, my mother would get me and my brother together for the traditional coloring of the eggs, which back then was only a few colors. Nowadays, you can do just about anything to an egg to decorate it and make it look festive. Heck, you can even give it some BLING if that's what you like.

Being Hispanic, my mother and father always made sure we inherited some Mexican traditions as well, like making cascarones.Cascarones are eggs filled with confetti. Of course, you remove the egg from the shell and replace it with the confetti. Nothing goes to waste as you can use the egg that's been removed for other desserts and treats and those hard boiled eggs don't spoil simply because you never got around to eating them.

The best part of the cascarones is finding an unsuspecting friend and cracking the confetti-filled eggs on their head, especially if they don't know what's in them or don't know about the tradition.

The website HispanicCultureOnLine tells us how this tradition started.

According to historians, this Mexican craft actually originated in China. In the Far East, the colored eggs were filled with scented powders and frequently given as gifts, that is how they became part of Hispanic culture.

 

After Marco Polo visited China in the 13th century, the eggs became all the rage in the royal courts of Europe, especially in Italy and Spain. They finally arrived in Mexico in the mid-1800s, courtesy of the Emperor Maximilian’s wife Carlotta.

 

In Mexico, the cascarones tradition began to evolve. Instead of scented powder, Mexicans put confetti into the eggs. They then developed the tradition of cracking the egg over a friend’s head to release the confetti, which inspired the name cascarones or “shell hits.”

Some people believe that if you make a wish and gently bump the egg before you break it  over someone's head, that wish will come true. Tradition has it though, that cascarones are supposed to bring good luck to the person the egg hits.

The best part of the cascarones is its religious meaning "because they are made from eggs, they symbolize rebirth and Jesus' resurrection."

It was the American-Hispanic culture that is directly responsible for the current popularity of the cascarones. These colored eggs fell out of favor in Mexico only for the tradition to come back to life in the 1960s with the fiesta San Antonio. A traditional celebration that dates back to April 1891 in San Antonio to honor the heroes of the Alamo battle in Texas.

These confetti-filled eggs have become so popular that they are now be used during other holidays specifically New Year's Eve.

Check out this video on how to make your very own cascarones.

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