Research Paper On Quinceanera

A Quinceañera is a popular rite of passage ceremony in Mexico, celebrated exclusively by girls. The term comes from the Spanish words quince and años, which mean fifteen and years (cf. Barbezat n.p.). As the name says it stands for a girl turning 15, which marks the end of childhood and symbolizes the start of a new life chapter as a grown woman (cf. Avila García). Important features of the celebration are family, womanhood and integrating the girl in the community as a new adult. Furthermore, the Quinceañera is now also ready to take responsibilities, make her own decisions and has more rights than she had before turning 15, for example driving a car. She is gaining liberty with her 15th birthday, and is about to make new experiences, like

. The day of my Quinceanera started early. I had just turned 15 and it was the birthday I had always dreamed of. I was always a dama in other Quinceanera’s, but now it was time for my own celebration. In Mexican culture, a dama is just like a bridesmaid. I had 14 of my closest friends as my dama’s to be a part of my “court of honor”. All 14 girls wore beautiful hot pink dresses and had polished hairstyles. The girls looked like beautiful dolls. When my mother was a little girl she had two Quinceanera’s. One celebration took place in Mexico and the other here in California. Looking back at my

All birthdays are special. Birthdays celebrate life and the passing of time. In a young Mexican girl life, there is no birthday more important then her quinceañera. The quinceañera is a celebration of a girl’s journey into womanhood. The story of my fifteenth birthday is contributed for a better understanding of how special it is to celebrate a girl’s transformation into a lady, and how it differs from any other birthday she celebrates.

Their family got together every opportunity they could. They had many traditional things they did as a family such as a gathering of family every year for her grandmother’s death, but as a celebration. Every year on Christmas Eve her family would also draw together to exchange gifts at different relative’s houses. The interviewee stated this became a tradition for her family because the married people in the family had to attend festivities at their spouses’ relatives. English and Spanish are both spoken in the Hispanics households. The majority of the older members of the family only speak Spanish. My interviewee stated that she did not know how to speak Spanish, but her mother did and fluently. She stated that her mother has always told her that she needed to know Spanish because that was her heritage, but she never felt it very necessary. The Hispanic culture celebrates the coming of age which is called a 15 or Quinceaneras. The Quinceanernas is usually a big production for the girls. The girls have escorts and dress in a formal type ballroom dress and have many of her friends and relatives there for the celebration. My interviewee stated that she did not have a Quinceaneras because she did not really get into it. She also stated that she got pregnant and did not want her parents to spend all that money for the celebration. The boys on the other hand do not go all out with this type of celebration, but instead celebrate at their

It can range from a fairytale princess, Cinderella, fairies and butterflies to precious moments in her life. And the third step is having a waltz. In most countries they have traditional customs were the quinceanera dances the first dance with her father. While dancing they play favorite quinceanera songs which are De Niña a Mujer (From Child to Woman) and La Ultima Muñeca (The Last Doll). It’s a special moment in time when the father and daughter are dancing. And the last step in having accessories for quinceanera includes dresses, tiaras, guest book, photo albums, champagne glasses, dolls, bibles, decorations and planning. In most countries in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central, and South America it’s a traditional and custom that their godparents and their parents pay for everything for her quinceanera on her fifteenth birthday. After cousin Christian finished explaining to me, she continued walking down the hall to begin to celebrate her fifteenth birthday. I told myself to never forget the first quinceanera I attended, and what she told me.

The Hispanic culture values children’s turning of age just like the American culture does. In American culture, teenagers can buy cigarettes and lottery tickets at age eighteen. At age sixteen, most American teens (depending on the state) can get a permit and begin to learn to drive. In Hispanic culture, fifteen is the chosen age; they value the girl’s fifteenth birthday because that is the age that they believe the young girl changes and becomes an adult, a woman. When the girl celebrates her fifteenth birthday, they celebrate by having a big turning-of-age ceremony and reception which they call a Quinceñera. The Quinceñera is a big event, almost like a wedding for the young girl.

The conversion from childhood to womanhood is an extremely significant event in practically any culture. This event is known as a Quinceañera, also called fiesta de quince años, fiesta de quinceañera, quince años, quinceañero or commonly known as quince which is consisted of a celebration of a girl 's fifteenth birthday with cultural roots in Latin America but celebrated all over America. Nonetheless, Hispanics, recognize this occasion by doing the celebration of a Quinceañera. The Quinceañera tradition is believed to have initiated several years ago when the Spanish conquerors initiated the tradition in Mexico while others believe the tradition began with the Aztecs. During that ancestral home of the Aztec Indians, whose empire succeeded

A Quinceanera is a celebration of a Hispanic girl turning fifteen years old. It recognizes her coming to age. It is usually a religious event. There is food, music, and dancing at the party. Many americans girl now have a sweet sixteen. This came from a Quinceanera and Americans borrowed it. Hispanic girls in America also do sweet sixteens, but they are exactly the same as Quinceanera. They still are mainly based around religion. They also still have food, music, and dancing. A Quinceanera has many other names such as,Quince Anos, a quinces, a Quinceanero, or a Fiesta Rosa. A Quinceanera is a very big deal for teenage Hispanic girls. The party is only about them. They dress up in very expensive dresses and they get to pick the food that they

Quinceanera is one of the most meaningful and beautiful occasions in Mexican culture. It embarks the celebration of girl’s fifteen birthday that is anticipated with much happiness and enjoyment. It is a celebration of womanhood means she is fully ready to take on her responsibilities and is of marriageable age. The ceremony is celebrated with zest and zeal by the parents.

In Spanish-speaking communities in the United States, girls do still have a Quinceanera, but it has to be altered in the way that it is done. There are many people that do not speak Spanish in the U.S., so there’s has to be a way to coordinate these people into the celebration, since mostly even have the English Language in common. Invitations for Quinceanera are made both in Spanish and In English. The invitations that are in English might read “Sweet 15” instead of a Quinceanera. Traditions that are done during the ceremony might not be done, they might be done before the ceremony. A young girl may chose to have a “Sweet 16” instead of the traditional Quinceanera. A “Sweet 16” is the coming of age party in the United

In many hispanic cultures, it is customary to have a big celebration for a young girls fifteenth birthday. This tradition is known as a Quinceanera, Quince, or Fiesta Rosa. This tradition celebrates a young girls coming of age. Moreover, this celebration “[embraces] religious customs, and the virtues of family and social responsibility” (Quinceanera-Boutique). In addition to celebrating the quinceanera, the big event allows family to come together and just enjoy themselves.

The overall culture and society in Mexico is greatly influenced by Catholic traditions that have been practiced for generations. These traditions are looked at as social events in Mexican communities (Hoffman 258). A quinceñera is one Catholic rite of passage that is considered to be an important milestone as it represents the transition of a girl into a woman on her fifteenth birthday. Friends and family are expected to attend Catholic ceremonies such as these despite any religious affiliation because of how intertwined Catholicism is with Mexican society (Euan Alvarado). This connection means that the majority of religious Mexicans are Catholic, and makes it difficult for other religions to grow. The Catholic Church also creates a sense of

My friend's Quinceañera, like my sweet sixteen's, was a large celebration treated with traditional value. Large celebrations held in the honor of young girls transitioning into womanhood. Traditional gateways that our elders guide us through with presents and festivity. These are things that both me and Nicole note to be a "big deal." At least, both of our families treat the holidays with the same sort of importance.

Although the Quinceanera is a formal rites of passage that is supposed to signify maturity and purity, in this article it is portrayed as just a fancy coming of age party that does not shape one 's identity. “It is rare that a ritual alters the way a society is organized” (Alvarez 50). At the Quinceañera Expo, Alvarez noticed little girls walking around in lustrous dresses and tiaras in their hair (Alvarez, pg. 50). The ritual is similar to the American Sweet 16 than a coming

A quilombo is a settlement founded by runaway slaves of African descent, the most famous of these communities was Palmares. This free territory was established in the 1600s and lasted about eighty-nine years, which is longer than any other quilombo in Brazil. In 1984, the director Carlos Diegues brought this overlooked history back into mainstream consciousness with his film Quilombo. The main historical topic covered in this film is the spirit and resistance of African people once they were separated from their homeland and subjected into slavery. History often portrays these kidnapped Africans as helpless and submissive but they did not give up their freedom quickly or silently. Diegues created this film not just to highlight the