In America, children are made to blow candles put on their birthday cake and make a wish. In Mexico, they have a completely different type of tradition called the Mordida.
What happens is that the child’s hands are tied behind their backs, and their face is shoved into the cake when they try to take their first bite, followed by everybody singing in loud voice Morida! Morida! Morida!
Note that Mexican cakes, typically tres leches, are pretty creamy. “Mordida” is the Spanish word for a bribe, but this colloquial term is widely used in birthday celebrations with the connotation, “taking a bite”.
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This is the funniest part of the celebration where the concerned individual is asked to bite the birthday cake with his mouth, while his hands remain tied on his back. People exclaim, Mordida Mordida in joy while the person takes the first bite from the cake.
His face sinks in the cake (it’s fun to see the person taking a dip in an Aztec pyramid cake topped with dollops of creams) and the cream spattering on his face.
His friends further play and mess with the cake and make great fun out of it. This is something that is enjoyed by every Mexican on their birthdays. Mexico is one of the few Latin countries with a birthday song that’s not simply a Spanish adaptation of “Happy Birthday”.
Las Mañanitas (the Little Mornings) song describes the beauty of the morning in which the singer comes to congratulate the birthday boy or girl.
Before, it was only sung in the morning; nowadays, it can be sung at any time, usually when the candles have been lit on the birthday cake. Besides lots of food and drink, many Mexican birthday parties are also celebrated with a piñata.
The piñata is most often made out of paper mache and is decorated to look like a particularly festive object or animal. It symbolizes happiness and joy and is therefore crafted with bright colors and filled with candies, treats, and small toys.
Partygoers are blind-folded and take turns trying to hit and break open the piñata in order to enjoy its spoils.
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