A piñata is a brightly-colored papier-mâché, cardboard, or clay container, originating in Mexico, and filled with any combination of candy, small fruit, food items, and toys. It is generally suspended on a rope from a tree branch or ceiling and is used during celebrations. A succession of stick-wielding, often blindfolded children try to break the piñata in order to collect the sweets, small fruit (traditionally peanuts, sweet limes, sugarcane) and/or toys inside of it.

It has been used for hundreds of years to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas and Easter. There are many hypotheses regarding the origins of piñatas and few reliable sources to confirm or dismiss them. Some believe that piñatas came from Italy after Marco Polo discovered them in China and brought them to Italy on one of his excursions.

Others believe that piñatas can be traced to Africa well before it appeared in China. Most people believe that the pinata originated in Spain. However, there is no evidence that the olla or piñata existed in Spain prior to the conquest of Mexico, nor did the piñata appear anywhere else in Spain's Latin America colonies until some time later.

In the Mexican Catholic celebration of Christmas, the piñata is traditionally shaped like a seven-pointed star which represents the devil and the seven deadly sins, while the contents are the goods or blessings he is withholding. Striking the devil with faith, symbolized by being blindfolded, releases the blessings.[citation needed]Piñatas are also used at Fiestas.

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