Pinatas in a Pandemic [] Joseph Toone

Published April 21, 2021

Much like the cloistered nuns’ tamale business and my neighbor’s chair rental company, the piñata industry, equally dependent on social gatherings, has seen sales plummet. Some artisans, in a creative bid to survive, have added coronavirus figures to their lineups of super-heroes and Disney princesses.  Painted green with a crown and spikes erupting in all directions, the pandemic piñata is now one of the most popular options.

Transforming a deadly virus’ icon into a comic effigy may be seen as a risky business decision, especially in a country with the world’s third-highest Covid-19 death toll.  However, buyers have welcomed a chance to pummel a stand-in for an adversary that has decimated the economy pushing millions into poverty and taken so many lives.

As Day of the Dead shows us yearly, Mexicans laugh even at death making a virus piñata just another monster.

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Joseph Toone is the Historical Society’s short-story award winning author of the SMA Secrets book series.  All books in the series are Amazon bestsellers in Mexican Travel and Holidays.  Toone is SMA’s expert and TripAdvisor’s top ranked historical tour guide telling the stories behind what we do in today’s SMA.  Visit JosephTooneTours.com, also on FaceBook.