How To Make Cascarones or Confetti Eggs

Stuff hollowed out eggs with confetti and reseal these with a little white glue and tissue paper. It you are going to dye the eggs first allow the water to drain out of the hollowed egg shells thoroughly before adding the confetti. If you don't have the time to make your own confetti, this may be purchased at craft stores. If you are going to break the eggs outside, you can also fill confetti eggs with bird seed instead.
 
      Cascarones or confetti eggs are festive, hollowed-out chicken eggs filled with confetti or small toys. They are rumored to have originated in China and brought to Europe by Marco Polo. In Italy they were first used as a courting ritual, filled with perfume and then capped with wax. Men would throw them at women they found attractive. The custom then traveled to Spain and was later brought to Mexico in the mid-1800s by Emperor Maximilian’s wife. It was in Mexico that the perfumed powder was replaced with confetti.

      In Spanish, cáscara means eggshell. Cascarones are similar to the Easter eggs popular in many other countries. They are mostly used in Mexico during Carnival, but in US and Mexico border the cultures combined making them a popular Easter tradition.

      Decorated, confetti-filled cascarones may be thrown or crushed over the recipient's head to shower him or her with confetti. In addition to Easter, cascarones have become popular for occasions including birthdays, Halloween, Cinco de Mayo, Dieciséis, Day of the Dead, and weddings (wedding cascarones can be filled with birdseed). Like many popular traditions in Mexico, cascarones are increasingly popular in the southwestern United States. For example, they are especially prominent during the two-week, city-wide festival of Fiesta in San Antonio, Texas.

      Having a cascarón broken over one's head is said to bring good luck.

      In order to make Cascarones, one can use a pin or knife to break a hole on the end of the egg and pour the egg out. The shell must then be cleaned out. Decorate it as desired and let dry. Then fill with confetti or a small toy. Apply glue around the outside of the hole and cover with tissue paper.

How to make Cascarones or confetti eggs.

 

• Color The Tree of Life

 

April by Robert B. Shearer, age 11
Loving April's come at last.
Hurrah, for stormy March is past!
Oh, Spring, Spring, Spring,
Can't you hear the birds sing?
And can't you see the April showers
That we all know will make May flowers?