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Piñatas in México, has become an important item in Mexican popular culture, have even crossed to other parts of the world. In México, they piñatas are used in birthdays parties, and celebrations. During Christmas time, Mexico celebrates las posadas, which is a celebration that starts Dec 14th to Dec 24th and everyday there is a piñata for children.

The piñata has two origins. From the Nahuatl culture that celebrated Huitzilopochtli (the god of war) from 17th to the 26th of December. The Nahuatl used to put clay pots decorated with ribbons and feathers on poles in the temple. When the pots were broken, treasures and jewelry fell to the feet of the god. The Spanish missionaries mixed the two customs to teach catechism. They added seven points to the pots to make a star. But instead of representing the star of Bethlehem, the seven-pointed star represents the devil and the seven capital sins: pride, avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. The blindfold represents faith in Christ, which at times can seem to be useless and incomprehensible. The act of hitting the piñata represents our Christian efforts and values.

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In Japan, when it rains parents will make these little dolls, called teruterubouzu, with their children. They're typically made with tissue paper, and are hung in the window as a wish that the sun will shine the next day.

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Decorations for parties are not cheap and in México one way to save some money is to do paper decorations.  When I was about 8 years old, for my uncle's wedding my family dedicated to do the decorations instead of paying for them.  About two months before the wedding, we got together in the evenings to cut paper for papel picado, paper flowers, and other decorations.  Since the work was easy everyone helped with the decorations, kids and adults as long as they knew how to use scissors and glue.  For me doing crafts is something done as group to enjoy the company of others while being resourceful.
I like doing paper flowers as decorations since they are economic, easy to make and you can play colors.
-Maria Marroquin

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This paper craft mimics a food, Ketupat, that Indonesians eat during Eid (known in Indonesia as Lebaran). Even though it is a time celebrated by Muslims, most people participate in the festivities and usually gather to eat good food. Ketupat or tipat is a Javanese rice cake packed inside a diamond-shaped container of woven palm leaf pouch. Originating in Indonesia, it is now also found in Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand. The rice cake is usually accompanied with other dishes eaten during Eid such as beef rendang and Indonesian curry.

- Bethanny Sudibyo

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When I was teaching English in Tarbes, France through the TAPIF program, my mom and aunt came to visit and we went to Lyon. Besides being a gastronomic center, Lyon is known for its silk printing industry. The city was the silk capitol of Europe in the 19th century, and there are printers in Lyon who continue to color silk using similar methods to those their families have used since that time. We visited the Atelier de Soierie and got to watch this process, which involves putting one color at a time onto the silk, and layering them to create beautiful images and patterns.

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My great-grandmother on my mother's side who was Polish decorated eggs quite often (or so my mom has told me!), which I learned was the traditional Pisanki.

I feel like it's a common traditional (at least to my family) for people in the United States to color eggs, but to us it felt like a way to connect with our Polish heritage to color eggs every Easter! :)

"Pisanki (Pisanky, pysanky) are colored and decorated Easter eggs. The art of pisanki is cultivated in Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and many other East and Central European countries. The name pisanki comes from the word “pisac” means “to write” or “to print”. Easter eggs are in Polish called jajka wielkanocne."

- Emerson C