dala dala piñata ya'll.

As a Hispanic Ásatrúar, I love & identify with the intersection between Scandinavian culture and my ethnic background, and after seeing Dalarna Horse variants during my recent Map Of Midgard site investigations in Minnesota I began to wonder if anyone had made a Dalarna-style horse piñata.

Seeing my Nana craft many piñatas from the ground up as a kid, either for family events or as commissions, there were no cultural restrictions or content barriers to what she could make (i.e. when I was 7, she made a Spider-Man piñata for me), so the idea of one only sticking to the traditional donkey/burro, bull/ox, or more geometric 7-pointed star simply didn't hold. Plus with the fact that Spanish vaqueros brought horsemanship and thus begat cowboy culture in the New World, why wouldn't all equines be fair game for Mexican piñatas?

While the above & below weren't made by Mexican grandmothers, I was really stoked to see that a couple people had used that folkcraft to make Dala Horse piñatas!

The earliest reference to the carved horses is from 1623 CE, but the decorative painting of them comes much later. Given the survival of Heathen beliefs in later folklore, this begs the NorsePlay that the idol-like wood horse might be descended from the Norse Lore. Maybe it's Odin's Sleipnir, perhaps coated in battlefield blood, or Freyr's Blóðughófi whose name means bloody-hoof, or Dagr's Skinfaxi ("shining mane") that perhaps could be permanently sunburned or sunrise/sunset-tinged or bloodied by the periodic nipping of the sun chasing wolf Sköll, all of which might explain the dominant red color and fancy decorative divine-level tack. Less likely, this could be jötunn Hrungnir horse Gullfaxi ("golden-mane"), perhaps tinged with the blood of his duel-defeated master and/or from Thor's head-wound (or, if unbloodied, this might be the less-common jötunn-esque ice blue horse variant), and given to Thor's son Magni in the wake of his father-rescuing role in that duel.

In the spirit of this potential mythological connection and cultural cross-pollination, NorsePlay would love to see someone make an eight-legged Sleipnir Dalarna horse and/or piñata. (By Sleipnir, maybe I'll do it ... .)

[photo 1 from Little Hiccups' great piñata DIY (go make one!), photo 2 by Jane Merritt.]

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.