Santa Barbara Wine Train Adventure 2012 (Page Six)

Did You Know? - Cascarones are confetti filled egg shells hand painted and brightly colored.
Cascarones’ egg shell have a very small opening on one end and the inside is drained out. The empty shell is thoroughly washed and then dried. The clean shell is now filled with confetti and sealed with a tissue paper. Cascarones are brightly colored.

How did Cascarones originate?

Cascarones have an uncertain beginning, however historians have traced their birthplace back to China. It’s believed that they were brought from Asia by Marco Polo. These original eggs were filled with a perfumed powder and the eggs were used as gifts. From Italy the tradition was carried to Spain and then to America. Carlotta, the wife of Emperor Maximillian, was so fascinated by the eggs that she brought them to Mexico during her husband’s rule in the mid 1800’s.

In Mexico people replaced the perfumed powder with confetti. It was then when Mexicans labeled the egg shells.... Cascarones... Which derives from the word "Cascara" which means shell. In Mexico Cascarones were popular at one time, but the tradition eventually faded. Only in the late 1960s and early 1970s Cascarones regained popularity in South Texas, where it has now become a family tradition. Some make very creative Cascarones' designs that sell for as much as $10 for one Cascaron.

Throughout Mexico and the American Southwest, Cascarones are used to celebrate. The fun is derived from breaking the egg over someone’s head; allowing the confetti to spill out. Prior to Easter, or during “Fiesta San Antonio” churches and schools do fund raisers by selling Cascarones. Others just enjoy cracking them over their friend's heads. Many say... the confetti shower brings good luck and good fortune ! but if anything they are lots of fun and almost addictive !!

Did You Know? - Traditionally these confetti filled eggs are broken over an unsuspecting friend’s head and are an exciting part of an Easter Egg Hunt.  There are a few things you should be aware of if you should decide to incorporate this into your egg hunt.  

First, some children enjoy slam-dunking these eggs into their friends’ heads, which can hurt.  It should be explained that they are to sneak up on their friend and slap the egg together in their hands to crack it, then quickly sprinkle the confetti and broken shell over their friends’ head/hair.  

Second, anything larger than a chicken egg is impossible to easily crack with your bare hands, so use chicken eggs for this one.  

And third, this is messy, so be ready to clean up or use biodegradable confetti (bird seed) if the hunt/games are outside.

Option:  Use these eggs in a egg tossing game.

You will need:

1. 1.   Clean blown eggs that you have dyed and allowed to dry
2. 2.   Confetti made from ribbons, crepe paper or from the office hole puncher
3. 3.   Crepe paper cut in flower or other decorative shapes to cover the end of the egg
4. 4.   Glue

Method

This is a great use for those old Christmas ribbons – you know the ones that are too ruined to use next year?  Have the children cut them up into tiny bits to use as confetti in the Mexican Confetti Eggs.  If you work at an office, you can also start collecting the refuse from the hole puncher each day.  Not as pretty as confetti from ribbons, but not as time consuming either.  Or mix ribbon confetti with hole punch confetti!  Another option, if you are doing this outside – use bird seed instead of confetti. 

Enlarge the hole in the egg to about the size of a No. 2 pencil.  It should be large enough to get the confetti through.  Fill the eggs ½ to 3/4 full of confetti.  If you are using bird seed, we recommend not over 1/2 full - otherwise it is too difficult to break the egg!  Seal the hole by gluing a small crepe paper patch over one end.  You can cut the crepe paper patch in the shape of a flower or some other decorative design to give a more finished look to the egg. 

Did You Know? - The $64,000 Question was created by Louis G. Cowan, formerly known for radio's Quiz Kids and the television series Stop the Music. Cowan had difficulty locating sponsorship for The $64,000 Question. Cosmetics giant Helena Rubenstein, which eventually did become a familiar television advertiser, rejected the idea, reportedly because its wealthy founding namesake did not own a television set at the time and had no idea of the medium's advertising potential. The Chrysler Corporation turned down the chance to launch the show because the automaker reportedly feared sponsoring a big-money quiz show would outrage company workers whose wages they were trying not to inflate. A vacuum cleaner company also said no to Cowan, reportedly because the concept would be too glamorous for its product.