The state herald., 1889-07-12
A QUAINT SPANISH CUSTOM.

i <S"6'S'
A o'iAlNT SPANISH CUSTOM.
Tic Old Time Amusement of Cascaron,
Misunderstanding Sport.
Those uho are acquainted with the Gus
toms Of old Spanish towns in Californi,
know what cascarones are, and arc prob
ably familiar with the ways of usint
thom and the additional enjoyment they
lend TO all dances where they are used
To such Of our readers who are not wei
postel in the matter we will attempt t
give n few words Of explanation.
The origin of the custom Of cascaront
breaking is probably surrounded with u.
impenctrable mystery as the identity o.
the "Mun in the Iron Mask 1t wa.
brought to California by the early Span
ish families from Mexico, and mp 10 with
in few years past it was an attractive
feature of e,ery darcc given during 6
certain portion of the year. Cascaront
season begins, according to custom, Mt Il
O'Clock Christmas night and lasts till Ash
/ Wednesday, and any one of our old citi-
zens can tell of the grand time. ut casca.
rome balls in the ''ilush DAYS" when The
custom was at its height. Dances were
of almost nightly occurrence then, and
| hundreds Of dozens of cascaroncs were
broken in an evening, and many poor
| family derived n handsome income from
! the manufacture and sale Of cascarones.
| They sold at 81 a dozen in the early part
of the evening, and in the ''wec sna'
hours" when the commodity became
scarce. an ounce of golddust has been
known TO be given for single dozen.
Many interesting stories could he told
of the cascarone balls of the past, bu.
only one will be mentioned n, M in
stance of the popularity of this peculiar
feature of the balls. On one occasion. ut
a ball given at the residence of Don jose
Abrcgo, Pete Scirano. then a muclacio,
was on hand selling c;iscaroncs. A gen,
tlcman approached and asked what he
would take for his cascaronca. "One
dollar n dozen," was the answer. "How
many have your" was the next inquiry.
'Forty Dozen" IAN right. I'll tako
thcm." Taking the basket, he started
down the hall but had not taken dozen
steps when he was surrounded by n
number of young i,lics, and in moment
all hands were diving into the basket,
coming out with doulilcliandsf,,l and
crushing them ON his head, while he
mnnfuIly strovc to return q few Of the
compliments he received. In iivo minutes
not one of the forty dozen cascaronos re-
mained whole. Tho mo,lus opcrandi Of
cascarone making is very simple, and
about as follows: Into I'm empty cgs,heli
WHOLE, except for an opening in one
en1 just large enough to rcmoye the
original contents-is placed about tea
spoonful of finely chopped paper Of
various bright colors AMI gold tiuscl,
then the o,enins il neatly closed by
FASTING piece Of colorcl paper over 1t.
and then the cascarune IL nll ready for
use.
In Mexico, in the good old times, cuan,lo
halia mucho ORC. gold dust mixed with
diamond dust, was often used 10 fill the
eggshells Mt the swell faninngoes given
by the old grlndecs. And il Is done
occasionally nowadays by some Of tho
wealthy old Dons who wish 10 do the
thing up in style. Other ways Of filing
the shells was 10 use finally pcrfumei
powder. nnd sometimes rare and costly
perfumes were used. Very often the
shells were beautifully decorated, and
sometimes hand painted. In Monterey,
hcfore the decline of the custom, the shells
were often oo!Dsel in fanciful designs like
Ester o.a,s, AMI NJ other times tastcfully
decorated with different cnlnrs of paner,
Chopped paper and tinsel wern usually
put IN the shells, but on moro than one
bcUlsioa gold dollar pieces were used
one In each sacil. Sp!cel candy WAS often
used, an,l s2mdim,i puwtlcran anl pcrlum-
cry. Housewives rcligiuuly ayc the
shells of all The cg.s tllcy uc and put
them away until c,.scaronc season comes
around,
In cascaroGc breaking Il Ia not necos.
sary that one should he acquaintcl: In
fact. 1t Is o sort Of 'niashing' proceeding
all through. The act Of breaking cas-.
caruno on anothor's head is TO bc con.
sidcrer II compliment by tho recipient.
who u w honor bound 10 return Il at
the first opportunity. The proper way
10 hrell, them IL to crush tho RlIell
in the hand over the persons head,
allowing IT, contents 10 fall on the head.
,n tho excitement u the amusement,
however The shell Is more Frequently
prokcaon the head, REGARDLESS, Of locality
.. force wpl, and itoflcntlmcs suggctiyc
oi anything hat nmiahlc feeling on tho
part Of tho hcs,owcr. When the ice i
ones brol,cn b. mca,lventmuus maiden
or pluclsy man tho con,agion soon
spreads. nnl In Il short timc everybody /
chasing around the room. breaking cns.
canac, Unfortunately. anl rccciying
them from all sides. Thc5o mock battles
usually occur between dnnrca. Ieam
ago sost Of game was pliycl IA the
hrc1liing uf c'iscnrpncs. II Nns an ull.
jcct -likc IN tho OH ramc of "tag''-to
lr,nl; the l1at carclrlnn on gnotlior. The
one breaking the lat wna allowed The
privilege Of nihing tho otlirr every time
they nett "Iiow nlp my chiclscusf' aud
iIio oih,r would bc cxlhclcl To giyc u
prcatnt ior tle benefit ol tho oliickoa--
candy, ctc., lciiig usully given. This
was allowed 90 lio Kept mp until tho nnxt
ca-.irono daicc. whun the rninp WIS all
playci osei. Monterey tCi.) Argna.