Folk Song: Cantos para romper la piñata

Informant: Nicolas Williams, my good friend at USC from Mexico City, this song is a traditional folk song that is typically sung on his birthdays and festivities where there is a pinata. I collected this folklore during an interview.

Folk song:

Dale, dale, dale,
No pierdas el tino,
Porque si lo pierdes
Pierdes el camino

Dale, dale, dale,
No pierdas el tino,
Mide la distancia
Que hay en el camino

No quiero oro
No quiero plata
Yo lo que quiero
Es romper la piñata

Echen confites
Y canelones
Pa’ los muchachos
Que son muy tragones.

Ándale María
No te dilates
Con la canasta
De los cacahuates.

Ándale Juana
No te dilates
Con la canasta
De los cacahuates.

La piñata tiene caca,
Tiene caca,
Tiene caca,
Cacahuates de a montón.

Ya le diste uno,
Ya le diste dos,
Ya le diste tres
Y tu tiempo se acabó.

Translated into english it is: 

Hit, hit, hit,
Don’t lose your aim,
Because if you lose it,
You’ll lose the way.

Hit, hit, hit,
Don’t lose your aim,
Measure the distance
That’s on the way.

I don’t want gold,
I don’t want silver,
What I want is
To break the piñata.

Throw candies
and mints
For the kids
Who are very greedy.

Come on, Mary,
Don’t delay
With the basket
of peanuts.

Come on, Jane,
Don’t delay
With the basket
of peanuts.

The piñata has pea,
Pea,
Pea…
Peanuts by the ton!

You’ve hit it once,
You’ve hit it twice,
You’ve hit it thrice,
Now your time is up.

“The piñata is a seven-pointed star that represents the seven deadly sins, on your turn you’re supposed to be blindfolded as you strike with the stick, representing that faith is blind and overcomes evil. We sing this song as the child is going to swing at the piñata which is traditionally at parties especially for birthdays and festivals. I remember singing it at every birthday as a child and my family still sings it today. Though this is a common song, its special to my family because we change the lyrics from Jane and Mary to members of our family and sometimes add our own lyrics like inside jokes to make everyone laugh.”

Thoughts: I have never heard of a song associated with hitting a piñata which has become a part of American culture as I used to have them for my birthdays also but I never sang a song. This song seemed to be associated with a lot of memories for Nicolas as he got very nostalgic telling me about his past celebrations with his family in Mexico.