For some teenage girls a very special milestone occurs on their 15th birthday. Quinceañeras, a cultural celebration of womanhood, is a significant event in many Latin-American families’ lives, a generational coming-of-age ceremony. They are heavily planned, elegant, and detailed festivities, and are usually in place of a traditional sweet 16.
“I would describe it as a wonderful, vibrant, sparkly, princess theme,” senior Ana DeLeon said.
The planning process is lengthy, as everything is specialized and tailored to the girl’s theme. Expenses run high, but no cost is too much when making the event perfect. Some begin arranging details years in advance, all so that the end product will run smoothly and be a flawless day.
“My family started planning kind of late, because I originally didn’t want to have one, though I ended up going through with it, with only a year of planning,” junior Liziana Picazo-Cruz said.
Quinceañera’s are a coming-of-age initiation, being a large occasion that is taken very seriously. They are a memorable and major event, since they only come once in a lifetime. “I think quinceañeras are important because of the value of the meaning behind them. In many Hispanic cultures, the quinceañera is a rite of passage, symbolizing a girl’s entry into womanhood,” DeLeon said. “Also, it’s a time when everyone gathers to have a peaceful, fun dancing time. Everyone joins together in celebrating the quinceañera and the family’s shared history.”
The memories made on a special day can be cherished and fond to look back on, and with the grand experience that a quinceañera brings, many are to come. While some focus on the greater events, like the father daughter dance or the dance with the last doll, where the quinceanera dances with her doll for a last time before becoming a woman, others look forward to the smaller and more intimate moments.
“(A memorable moment was) being in the limo with my court, because it was all of us having fun after a lot of struggles,” Picazo-Cruz said.
Regardless of how big or small the quinceañera is, they will always be enjoyable and inclusive events.
“It was so much fun, everyone had fun, and there were a lot of people,” senior Magdalena Rivera said.
