By Chloe Eames
Courier Staff Reporter
Every year the people in Yucatán, Mexico the people gather around to celebrate a holiday called Kots Kaal Pato (translated: strangle the duck).
The Yucatán natives come around in the middle of their town and stuff live animals into piñatas and hit them around. The people’s ages range from young to old and encourages others to join in on all the “fun.” The tradition is that anyone who is able to rip the head of the animal reserve the right to take home the body and make a meal of it.
Natives put the animals (or vermin as they like to call it) in a box, then stuff them in the piñata and everyone in town to come to destroy the “vermin.” This is a fairly new change within the holiday. Originally, the natives would throw the animals around and trample them to death as a way of getting rid of them. This has been a tradition within their culture for many generations.
As of December 2014 and early into the year of 2015, Mexican police have tried to stop of what they call it to be indignant. Yet many do not attempt to end the tradition because their sources say they can never find the people who celebrate the holiday.
No one may know how this holiday started or why but one thing is for sure this tradition is very much still alive in 2015.
