Research Essay

Sydney Dever

Jessica Hutchman

Lang 120

14 November 2013

Quinceañera: A Step in to Young Womanhood

            Think about your life, at what point did you feel you transitioned out of your childhood and into an adolescent stage? Was there one specific event that triggered it? Was it part of the culture you were raised in? A religious ceremony? An informal ritual among your peers? Throughout history and in modern society, there have been many different types of events that individuals feel have been a rite of passage for them when transitioning from childhood in to an adolescent stage where they begin to take on more responsibilities as well as begin to develop in to an adult. This can sometimes be a specific event within a culture, religion, or society; or this transition could be something that happens over time. In Latin America, it has been a tradition in their religious-based culture to have a ceremony to celebrate a girl's fifteenth birthday, known as a Quinceañera, which is a Spanish word for the feminine version of “fifteen-year-old.” It represents the young girl's official transition from  leaving childhood and entering the stage of adolescence. It serves as a rite of passage for many girls, and it involves specific events and rituals during the ceremony, and afterward the girl takes on various responsibilities as a young adult. The celebration of a Latina girl's fifteenth birthday has now become comparable to a celebration in the United States known as a “sweet-sixteen”; however, sweet-sixteen celebrations typically have less religious influence and lack significance in some aspects. It is the “Americanized” version that seems to have much less significant value with this coming of age for young females. The originally religious-based tradition of a girl's quinceañera has changed much overtime and now has taken its own form in modern American Society.

            A traditional quinceañera celebration in Latin American societies has usually been focused around Catholicism, which is the most commonly practiced religion among Latin American countries. The celebration originally derived from ancient Aztec and Catholic traditions (Miranda). On the young woman's fifteenth birthday, the celebration is held and usually consists of an agenda full of various events: first it will begin with a religious service (typically a Roman Catholic Mass); followed by the girl receiving symbolic gifts given by her family, and friends and community; and plenty of pageantry to represent her transition in to young womanhood (Gracia 110). Following the religious service, a reception is held where the girl will dance a waltz with her father, and then perform a choreographed dance with her court (Miranda). Her court consists of fourteen young couples, representing each of the girl's previous years of life. After each of these special rituals, a cotillion-like party is held by the girl's family, and oftentimes her immediate and extended family will attend (Rodriguez). Depending on the country, the celebration will involve many other happenings throughout the day that will signify her transition as she makes her way into young womanhood. Latin America has been recognizing this special event for women for centuries and at one point this rite of passage meant that the young woman was ready for marriage (Gracia 110). Specifically in Mexico, the extended family and godparents (or "padrinos" and "madrinas") will all help pay for the events involved in the quinceañera celebration. Some of the traditional gifts that the girl would receive from her community are a ceremonial first pair of high-heeled shoes and a last doll that are meant to send a "clear message": "We expect you to get married, have children, and devote yourself to your family" (Gracia 111). One of the most symbolic events during the girl's special day is when her father switches her pair of flats with her first pair of high-heeled shoes (Alomar).  After the girl's flat shoes that she arrived in are removed, her first pair of high-heeled shoes are put on, representing the transformation from being a girl to a young woman in the eyes of the community. This rite of passage for fifteen-year-old Latina girls traditionally had a very  important meaning within this culture. It symbolized the transition from a stress-free childhood to a more grown-up and responsible young adult world. Young Latina girls were expected to take on a very important role in society, and this event was the catalyst to start it all. However, nowadays this significant ceremony has lost some of its meaning as the culture has changed with time.

            The "modern day" quiñceanera in the United States and Latin America is celebrated much differently than it has been traditionally; the significance is much more ambiguous. As immigrants have been moving to North America in large amounts during the 1960s, this rite of passage for Latin Americans has modernized and generated a different meaning as it developed in American society. Considering there are more than 35 million Latinos currently living in the United States, the celebration has become much more mainstream and commercialized, and can sometimes be considered as extravagant as a wedding ceremony (Miranda). Gracia states in her article, "Crooked Tiara," that "the modern incarnation of the quinceañera can be an outrageous production with a six-figure budget, themed cruises, and a profusion of anything pink and princesslike" (Gracia 111).  The market in America has even caught on to it: many wedding industries, websites, magazines, and vendor expos support the distinctly Americanized interpretation of this ceremony (Gracia 111). Specifically quinceañera gowns are being sold in the same shops as wedding gowns, and cruise companies will offer seven-day trips across states for quinceañera celebrations exclusively (Miranda). This shift within the cultural ritual causes the young girl to focus more on the superficial aspects of the celebration such as the gifts, the elaborate gown, the banquet hall, the DJ, and the party, which all have become much more costly as it creates a dent their parents' bank accounts, rather than the true symbolic meaning behind all of it: which is the girl's coming-of-age celebration.

            After the modern, Americanized culture influence this traditionally Roman Catholic and Latin American tradition, each generation loses more and more of its original values as it blends in with modern United States society. One topic author Marie-Elise Wheatwind discusses in her article called "Quinceañera Barbies" are the "hard numbers" that come with celebrating a quinceañera in modern U.S. culture. The author defines this phrase as "the percentage of Latina girls who become pregnant within one year of their quince celebration and the increasing violence at quince parties, because of snubbed, uninvited guests and party crashers" (Wheatwind 26). Once the focus was shifted more towards the extravagant party, rather than having a celebration with close friends and family, the party becomes a big deal and will quickly get out of hand. There has been a large percentage of Latina girls dropping out of high school as well, which some critics believe is a result of the shift in traditional celebration, and that parents should deemphasize the need for a big party (Miranda). The girls then feel that they are adults after the celebration because of the traditional concept; however, they may believe that they no longer must attend school which could be the explanation. This shows that as this tradition moved to America, the significance of this rite of passage has begun to dissipate. The girl is left unaware of her new responsibilities and expectations, which leaves her unable to smoothly transition into the next stage in life: being a young woman. Because of the high dropout rate, as well as the increasing number of teen pregnancies shortly after this celebration, it is apparent that the way this rite of passage has merged in to American culture has developed a different set of values.

            Not only has the traditionally Latin American celebration of a quinceañera differed from its original meaning when it became popular in the United States, but this gathering has begun to spread outside the Catholic Latino community (Miranda). Americans celebrate their own similar celebration: known as a "sweet-sixteen." This celebration is much less focused around a significant transition in the girl's life, but rather more superficial elements such as an enormous costly event where parents must rent out a large space for it to be held, pay for the party to be catered so there is food for all the guests, a DJ, and most times the girl is gifted with a brand new luxury car. In America, a sweet-sixteen celebration does not signify many meaningful changes following the party; the young woman still has the same obligations as she did before. The celebration may leave the girl feeling entitled, because many parents end up giving in to all of the girl's wants, which is more of the glorification of their wealth rather than a celebration of a transition (Kohn). Sally Kohn is the director of a project that works with organizations all over the United States in order to identify our shared, long-term visions for the future. She argues that MTV's series "My Super Sweet 16" glorifies much of the inequality in America today because in each show, roughly $500,000 is spent on the one single event; meanwhile, there are 2.8 billion people worldwide who live on less than $2 a day (Kohn). As Kohn states in her article, "these sixteen-year-old rich kids didn't do anything to earn the fame. They bought it" (Kohn). This celebration in comparison to the Latin American quinceañera celebration represent a huge disconnect in each culture's values of coming-of-age for young women. The festivities involved in a quinceañera traditionally signified a major rite of passage for young women in Latin America. The day began with them entering as a girl, and by the end of the day she would be recognized as a young woman by her friends, family, and community. She was aware that along with gaining this level of respect from her close ones, she was expected to assume various responsibilities, which in return will prepare the young woman as she begins to enter the stage of adulthood. On the other hand, the "sweet-sixteen" parties celebrated by mostly upper-class families mainly revolves around preparation and planning for one single day for the birthday girl to be spoiled by her parents and feel as though she is "famous" as she is escorted of her brand new luxury vehicle when she arrives to the party. This celebration does not adequately prepare the girl for her transition to young womanhood; more so, it is a privilege given to her that does not represent a significant transition as she is coming-of-age in the United States.

            For centuries now, the ceremony of a quinceañera has served as a special rite of passage for fifteen-year-old girls in Latin America, originating from Aztec traditions as well as Roman Catholicism. It has helped to give these young women a sense of maturity and responsibility within their community as they develop through this specific stage of life. Over the past few decades, the tradition has changed as societies and their values have evolved. As a result of the influx of Latin Americans in the United States during the twentieth century in attempt to improve their quality of life, pieces of their traditions, such as the quinceañera, have been lost as they began to adapt to modern American society. The traditional meanings of a quinceañera in Latin American culture may be considered outdated nowadays because society's values have changed. The idea of a fifteen-year-old girl being ready for marriage today is very uncommon; young adults are not even considered to be "adults" until the age of eighteen, generally. Coming-of-age in every culture is celebrated in many different ways, shapes and forms. Across cultures and societies, the rite of passage when young boys and girls are shifting out of a stage characterized by childhood play and moving in to a more mature stage of young adulthood may be acknowledged at various ages and may entail different values depending on the community.