In California’s Spanish and Mexican days, no one was safe from ambush or attack from about Christmas to the first day of Lent. Eggshells (cascarones) filled with confetti or cologne were dashed on the heads of unsuspecting friends and foreigners alike. Imported from Spain to Mexico, this custom was described by Monterey resident William R. Garner in a letter to the Philadelphia North American: “The season for breaking egg shells having arrived, the young men and women procure as many of them as they can, and woe betide the young fellow who breaks an egg on a female’s head where there are four or five young women, they will be sure to take ample revenge by breaking us many on his head as they can possibly find an opportunity for, generally drenching him from head to foot with cologne water:”