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Cascarones

You might be asking yourself, what the heck is a cascarone (Cask-ca-roe-neh)? A cascarone is a hollowed egg that has been dyed and filled with confetti, and then resealed using tissue paper. What is the purpose of cascarones, you might now ask yourself. In South Texas and Mexico, cascarones are as synonymous with Easter as dyed hard boiled eggs are in the rest of North America.

In doing research for this post, I found that cascarones have actually been around hundreds of years, maybe even thousands. Some people believe they even started in Roman times. The egg symbolizes fertility, which is what Spring is all about. No matter which era we’re talking about, to have a cascarone broken on top of your head (covering you in confetti) is meant to be a sign of good will and good fortune for the rest of the year.

Plus, it’s really fun to break eggs on top of your friends’ heads and cover them in brightly colored confetti!

In San Antonio, you find cascarones in roadside stands by the hundreds in the week leading up to Easter. No head is safe, especially at the multitude of festivals that take place in San Antonio this time of year: Night in Old San Antonio, Fiesta, Oysterbake, Jazzfest, and the Poteet Strawberry Festival.

Today is the last day of Fiesta, and so I thought it only appropriate to tell you about cascarones. They can be a super fun craft to do with your kids in addition to your normal Easter traditions, and you can teach them about a new culture at the same time.

Happy Fiesta!

 

[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Cascarones – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]

Easter Egg Dyes & a Le Creuset Giveaway | Bluebonnets & Brownies

Saturday 21st of March 2015

[…] hadn’t dyed eggs since my foray into making my own Cascarones a few years ago, but I remember ending up with pink and blue fingers from the artificial […]

Water Extraction

Tuesday 24th of May 2011

that is too cute!

Ana Dowling

Friday 22nd of April 2011

I grew up with cascarones (there is no ñ, I hope you correct it). It's a very fun tradition and it always reminds me and my cousins in Mexico breaking the eggs on each other's head, such a happy memory!!

Amber

Saturday 23rd of April 2011

Hi Ana,

As I said above, I researched it, and most places seemed conflicted about it, so I used what I remembered being on signs the last time I was home. I guess that'll teach me to trust roadside signs! I've corrected it now. They're such a happy memory for me too!

Jen Schall

Wednesday 20th of April 2011

So fun! We used to make these when we were kids and we'd throw them at each other (outside the house so my mom didn't kill us) kind of paintball style. :)

Amber

Saturday 23rd of April 2011

Hah, nice one, Jen. Sounds like a fun thing to do to me.

CMom

Wednesday 20th of April 2011

Beautiful photos and great directions! I grew up with Cascarones. (BTW: they are pronounced /Cask-ca-roe-n/ as singular and /Cask-ca-roe-nehS/ with the /s/ at the end as plural. Also, there is no "tilde" (no "ñ")above the letter n in the word "cascarones".) It's not Easter at our house without cascarones. Which reminds me: we better hurry up and dye some or we'll be stuck buying them this year!

Amber

Saturday 23rd of April 2011

Thanks for the correction. I searched several different places online and it was listed both ways, so I went with what I remembered being on the signs last time I was home during the season. Guess I was wrong! I've fixed it now.

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