WINNEMUCCA - The Lowry High School Spanish classes taught by Amie Godinez recently completed their cascaron project.
Every year this project is completed by all students in Señora Godinez' Spanish classes. Students start with a regular raw egg and clean out the center white and yellow yolk. From there, the ideas are limitless as to what they can make from their cascaron (eggshell). They stage the decorated eggshell in a scene to compliment the look. It is exciting to see such creative and well-made projects.
The 2012 first-place winner was "Penguins Ice Fishing" by Makenna Lloyd. There was a tie for second place, including "Llama at Machu Picchu" by Ryan Godinez, "Show Girls" by Jessica Villareal and "Lens crafters Eye Glasses" by Chloe Yates.
"Pearl in Shell" by Madison Waldie took third place. There was a tie for fourth place between "Red Fox" by Rebecca Mastin and "Despicable Me" by Giovani Diaz.
There was also a tie for fifth place among six projects. They included "Pool Table" by Shelby McKinnon, "Fried Egg" by Rachel Sigurdson, "Ballerina" by Jessica Partee, "Sumo Wrestlers" by Joseba Criswell, "Maraca" by Olivia Snow and "Angry Birds" by Colin Doyle.
A cascaron, the Spanish word for eggshell, is a chicken egg that has been properly cracked, emptied and thoroughly washed. After this has been done, the eggshell is then brightly painted and filled with confetti. It is pronounced kas-ca-ron, or kas-ka-ron-nes for plural.
Cascarones are party favors that are "egg-specially" designed to be cracked on someone else's head, usually "unegg-spectantly," showering them with confetti. They can be used at happy events such as birthday parties, festivals, holidays and special events. They are an exciting part of every celebration and are sure to be a smashing hit with party guests. It's no wonder that they make "egg-cellent" icebreakers.
Cascarones are not only for breaking on people's heads, but can also be elaborately decorated to create beautiful pieces of art for decoration, gift giving and collecting.
How did cascarones originate?
The tradition of decorating eggs dates back hundreds of years ago when pagan Europe used eggs as a symbol of fertility and nature's rebirth in their spring time celebrations. Early Christians gradually absorbed the egg into their Easter celebrations, since Easter coincided with this pagan holiday, changing the egg's symbolism to that of a Christian interpretation.
At Easter, Christians commemorate the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave.
The Easter egg perfectly symbolizes the Christian story - God provides a provision for fallen humanity to repent of their sins and have everlasting life in heaven. In John 3:16, Jesus proclaims, "For God so loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Throughout the centuries, decorating eggs to give away as gifts became a very popular Easter tradition. Many traditions and styles of decorated eggs developed among the European nations.
Carlotta, the wife of Emperor Maximilian, is often credited for bringing elaborately decorated perfume-filled eggs from Europe to Mexico during her husband's rule in Mexico in 1864. No one really knows how or when cascarones were invented, but it is widely believed that eventually the perfume was replaced by confetti eggs, hence creating confetti eggs. It was in Mexico that the confetti-filled eggs came to be known as the cascaron, or cascarones for plural.
Over the past century, cascarones have become a fun and popular tradition amongst millions of Americans all across the southwest and its popularity continues to spread throughout the U.S.
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