Easter Tradition: It’s Cascarones Chaos Time Again

March 27, 2012 · Filed under Life with kids · Tagged Cascarones, Easter, Easter Eggs, Firecracker, Hershey's, Sunbeam

Easter is fast approaching; and with the flowers and trees blooming for spring, this time of year reminds me of our family tradition —  coloring Easter eggs.

As a child I remember my Mom picking up a PAAS Easter Egg kit and some Hershey’s chocolate for us to eat. I can still remember her boiling the eggs, the smell of vinegar as we gathered around the dinner table, taking turns dumping the eggs in the colored vinegar, all while savoring our chocolate. Then my siblings and I would run outside on a cool spring day and hide them around the yard so we could play hide and seek with those colorful eggs.

This is one fun tradition that I’ve carried on for my family — coloring eggs and eating chocolate.

However since we reside in South Texas, our Easter egg tradition has taken on a slightly significant Hispanic influence — the Cascarone.

According to the Austin Times, the cascarones “was first seen in Asia and later brought to Italy by the explorer Marco Polo. The eggs were often given as gifts and were filled with perfumed powder. The custom then traveled to Spain and was later brought to Mexico in the mid-1800s by Emperor Maximilian’s wife. It was in Mexico that the perfumed powder was replaced with confetti.”

Firecracker preparing to observe the cascarones assembly.

A Cascarone takes some advanced preparation.  Since we’ve had Sunbeam we’ve joined his “Aunt Betty” and her family for Easter and with open arms they have introduced us to their Cascarone Chaos.

An empty, yet clean egg shell -- ready to be filled.

For months last year I carefully tapped dozens of eggs at the top, so I didn’t ruin the whole shell. Extracted the yoke and whites of the egg, washed it out, and placed it back in an egg container to dry out. I did this with 15 dozen eggs. Yes, 15 dozen.

An inexpensive way to color eggs.

Then I learned something new — I didn’t have to use vinegar to color eggs. Apparently Kool-aid works just as well.  Just as well with WHITE eggs shells. You receive a rather dull coloring job with brown shells. Lesson learned.

Coloring the eggs.

After the egg dries, then you fill the shell with confetti and glue a small piece of tissue paper.

Then on Easter Sunday we join Aunt Betty’s family and hide all our combined cascarones (80 dozen or so) around the yard. Honestly there are so many eggs that there is no hiding —  only dumping them in the yard.

Then we each grab a bag and start grabbing the cascarones as quickly as we can because mayhem is about to ensue.

What do you do with a cascarone, you ask?

You break them over each other’s heads.

The result is happy kids who look like they’ve had a party in their hair.

Party Hair

So what Easter traditions do you celebrate with your family? Big family dinner, egg hunt, special dresses? If you want to read about more Easter traditions hop on over to Hershey’s Bunny Trail to uncover holiday recipes, craft projects and inspiration for Easter baskets.

The Bloom Blog was not compensated for this post other than an Easter basket that Hershey’s is sending me on March 30. I’m not sure if I will share the chocolate since Sunbeam and Firecracker always score their own Easter basket haul.

Sunbeam and Firecracker's 2011 Easter haul.