The quinceañera is the celebration of a young girl’s fifteenth birthday but it means so much more than turning fifteen, it signifies her transformation into womanhood. The quinceañera is not only a Latino tradition; some cultural equivalents include the Bar Mitzvah for Jewish boys and girls, the sweet sixteen, and the debutante ball.

The details of a quinceañera vary from country to country as well as in urban and rural areas. The majority of the quinceañeras I have attended have been thrown by families with an average monthly income of $150-$250. I know this because I know the monthly income of every family in our village from the census I completed 8 months ago. With this said these families are not throwing extravagant parties. The amount of people invited and the type of food varies from party to party but the one thing that is certain to be extravagant is the dress. The dress is typically a shade of pink but more modern quinceañeras have all different colors including blue and green. The dress is usually the most expensive item necessary for the party. I have asked on separate occasions the significance of the quinceañera compared to a wedding and they tell me the quinceañera is much more important, mostly because it is certain to happen whereas a wedding is not.

I recently attended a quinceañera of a student of mine who is financially better off than most of her classmates. I was able to learn what quinceañeras are like outside of the campo where we live.  Her court was made up of 14 young women and 14 young men, all dressed in specially made clothing. She had hired a videographer, 2 photographers, a dj, and an event planner. She changed her dress 3 times. The men and women of her court were required to attend dance practice for 3 months in preparation for the big day and about two hundred people were in attendance.  

Here are some pictures of the birthday girl

The ceremony began with the birthday girl and her escort leading in the court of honor while the guests were already seated. They were introduced one by one until everyone including the person who made the dresses had a moment in the spotlight. The father and daughter had their dance followed by the daughter and her escort. Then the dances of the court began. There was the traditional dance with champagne and the dance of roses but this very special quinceañera included another hour and a half of choreographed dancing, some of it to Salvadoran music and some to American music.

 After the dancing came the gifts. The birthday girl was showered with presents until everything she had been wearing was replaced with something new. She sat while someone removed her sandals and replaced them with a new pair. Her earrings, necklace, bracelet and ring were all removed and replaced with new shiny gold, even her fake roses were replaced with real ones. Finally her tiara was placed upon her head signifying her transformation into womanhood was complete. At this time everyone attending her party formed a line and handed her their gift. The table was quickly filled and the family moved loads of gifts into a basket to make more room. During the ceremony the attendees were served chicken sandwiches while the court enjoyed a catered meal. The cake reminded me of my wedding cake with multiple levels, except it was much larger and there were two of them. The rest of the night was spent sweating on the dance floor.

All of the quinceañeras I have attended have been identical to this one in regards to the ceremony but everything else is downsized. Usually less than 20 people are invited and there is never enough cake to feed them. Usually there is no court, only an escort. There is no dj, no photographer, no videographer. I asked a Salvadoran friend if she thought this quinceañera was typical and she laughed. She said for those in the city yes, but not for us pobrecitos. To explain how this fancy quinceañera was given in our poor little village, the girls mother lives in the United States and sent the money home to fund the party.

This last picture cracks me up because this is how they take pictures here. They are laughing and smiling and then you take the picture and get this. I don’t know how they do it. This is a picture of me with my closest girl friends in the community, although from this picture you wouldn’t guess they were my friends at all. It is just another cultural difference that they won’t smile for pictures.

-Meli

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