Original photo by simonkr/ iStock
Confetti usually brings to mind joyful scenes of fluttering paper strips, but that wasn’t always the case. In 19th-century Italy, confetti actually referred to sugar-coated almonds and other candied foods, tossed during street festivals such as pre-Lent Carnival celebrations.
“Confetti” is originally an Italian word meaning “sweetmeats,” a general term for dessert foods. Carnival celebrations in cities including Rome and Naples encouraged excess before the austerity of Lent. Revelers pelted each other from the streets and balconies, armed with slings and tubes to launch their edible ammunition.
Oops, incorrect!
It's a fibThe trend faded in the 1980s due to now-debunked fears about uncooked rice being harmful to birds’ stomachs if eaten. In reality, birds can safely eat and digest uncooked rice just like other grains.
By the mid-1800s, small plaster balls and chalk pellets were used as a cheaper and more accessible alternative to the candied almonds. Charles Dickens describes such a scene vividly in 1846’s Pictures From Italy, noting that protective wire masks had become required Carnival gear. By 1875, Milan businessman Enrico Mangili was selling paper scraps from his silk manufacturing company for use in Carnival celebrations, and paper confetti quickly replaced its candied predecessors.
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In 19th-century Italy, nearly all dry pasta was referred to as ______.
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In 19th-century Italy, nearly all dry pasta was referred to as macaroni.
The confetti at Times Square on New Year’s Eve is dispersed by hand.
Each New Year’s Eve, roughly 3,000 pounds of confetti rain down on the dedicated revelers in New York City’s Times Square as the ball drops at midnight. Given the magnitude of the celebration, you may assume this to be the work of confetti cannons, but the tradition is fully manual.
By 8:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, 100 volunteers make their way to the tops of seven different buildings to assume their positions. Just before midnight, they quickly start throwing armful after armful of the recycled, 100% biodegradable paper pieces to the crowds below.
It’s been this way since 1992, when former Disneyland balloon artist Treb Heining was hired to organize the event’s first confetti drop. To this day, Heining remains committed to conducting the operation by hand, preferring the timing and effect it gives the falling paper shreds.
Nicole is a writer, thrift store lover, and group-chat meme spammer based in Ontario, Canada.
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