'Human piņata' dies in effort to avoid blow
             


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                  'Human piņata' dies in effort to avoid blow


                  Associated Press
                  Dec. 18, 2003 07:10 PM
                  MEXICO CITY - A 24-year-old man died in southern Yucatan state 
                  after reportedly allowing himself to be used as a human 
                  piņata, the decorated clay jar that children in Mexico 
                  traditionally break open with sticks to get the sweets hidden 
                  inside.

                  To indulge his two younger siblings, Sebastian Cahum Pech 
                  allowed them to tie his hands and feet, balance him on a beam 
                  and swing at him with sticks, the newspaper Reforma reported.

                  Cahum Pech, who was tied loosely to the beam by the neck, 
                  jumped to avoid the blows, which were delivered by his sister, 
                  13, and brother, 8, with the traditional piņata sing-song 
                  rhyme, "Hit it, Hit it, Really Hard."

                  While he twisted to avoid one blow, Cahum pech fell from the 
                  beam, tightening the rope around his neck and leading him to 
                  die of asphyxiation.

                  The accident occurred Tuesday and was reported by state police 
                  Wednesday in the rural township of Chemax, about 80 miles (130 
                  kms) inland from the Caribbean resort of Cancun.



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