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In Western culture, the pi\u00f1ata has become a party favorite. After all, who doesn\u2019t love beating the stuffing out of something with a stick now and then? It\u2019s also yielded more than its fair share of hilarious videos. Any time you put a stick in the hands of a five-year-old, blindfold him, spin him around a few times and tell him to swing said stick in a room full of people,\u00a0bad things are bound to happen to people standing within 10 feet.<\/p>\n
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In Japan, the pi\u00f1ata game has taken on a decidedly different twist. Instead of a papier-mache pony filled with candy, a watermelon is used as the target. The tradition is called suikawari<\/a> and, according to Wikipedia:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The rules are similar to pi\u00f1ata. A watermelon is laid out, sometimes on a tarp, and participants one by one attempt to smash it open. Each is blindfolded, spun around three times, and handed a wooden stick, or bokken, to strike with. The first to crack the watermelon open wins. Afterward, the chunks of watermelon produced are shared among participants.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019m happy to see that the stick, blindfold and spinning are still part of the game, even though I feel kind of bad for the watermelon. What\u2019s missing is the candy that rains from the ceiling, but to be quite honest, I\u2019d rather have pieces of watermelon anyhow!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Below is a video of a game of suikawari. I might actually give this game a try this summer. If I do, I\u2019ll be sure to post the video here on the watermelon blog!<\/p>\n