I remember a tradition we had growing up in which during Holy Week, we'd all sit around the table and make 'cascarones' - confetti-filled eggs that have been hollowed out, dyed, filled with confetti and then closed with colorful tissue paper and cracked open on Easter Sunday. It's a tradition popular in Mexican and Mexican-American households. As a family, we would chase each other around our back yard in Washington, D.C., basket of cascarones in hand, and once we caught up to the unlucky someone, we'd crack the eggs over their heads, and bits of dyed egg shell and confetti would spill all over! By the end of the afternoon we had a a multicolored lawn, lots of egg shell bits spread all over, and each of us was in desperate need of a shower. We loved everything about it.
I remember my parents would start collecting the eggs right around the beginning of Lent. I have vivid memories of our father cautiously cracking the eggs, careful not to break them beyond a tiny little hole at the top, patiently discarding the contents into whatever he was preparng for breakfast and washing the egg shell (cascaron in Spanish) and placing it back in the carton for future dying and 'stuffing.' It couldn't have been easy to watch the old eggs pile up and to clean the disaster that followed Easter Mass, but I guess the fun of it made it worth it to them. God bless 'em and may He grant me similar patience someday! For what it's worth, it was among our favorite family traditions. Curious? Try them by following this simple e-how on how to make Cascarones.*
*Note: If you use an instrument other than a knife (pin, nail or needle) and plan to cook with the eggs you hollow out, sterilize the metal used to open the shell, as it will touch the food.
Cheers!
Ana
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