Serpentinas de papel
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Cascarones
In their most common form,
cascarones are empty egg shells that have been washed out,
painted on the exterior, filled with confetti and closed again with a
small square of tissue paper pasted over the opening. They may sometimes
contain small toy prizes or sweets as well. Early variations, connected
with the customarily riotous pre-Lenten celebrations, were filled with
either perfumed or rank-smelling colored water and sealed with a plug of
wax.
Cascarones figure heavily into local
fiestas in towns and cities all over the nation, as fellow
revelers enjoy playfully cracking the eggs over one another's heads,
unleashing showers of confetti that help heighten the sense of
merriment. The practice has long been favored among adolescents who
still may be observed engaging in this innocent form of flirtation with
members of the opposite sex during Sunday evening
paseos around village plazas.
According to some sources,
cascarones first came into vogue in the 19th century, when
Empress Carlotta introduced a popular European courting custom to
Mexico. Turn-of-the-century accountants of
Carnaval in Mazatlan make reference to the
papaqui, simulated battles in which rival labor groups pelted one another with
cascarones, thereby setting the tone for the unconstrained Farewell to Flesh festivities.
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