Some of my freshmen students were flipping through a thick dress-filled magazine this morning. The dresses are huge and gaudy—hot pink, bedazzled and lacy with huge, crinoline-lined hoop skirts. The girls said that the dresses were for their Quinceañera parties, huge celebrations of a girl’s fifteenth year, welcoming her into adulthood in this Mexican tradition.
The tradition comes from the Aztecs. A female child became a part of adult tribal society when she turned fifteen. The Mexican Catholic church adopted the tradition—the Quinceañera is also a religious ceremony. The fifteen-year-old-to-be is required to take a yearlong class that will integrate her into adult life as part of the Church.
The planning of the party is seriously extensive. Before the day of the party, the girl chooses a dress, as well as a court of fourteen girls, called damas, representing each year of her life before she turned fifteen. She also chooses the damas’ escorts, called chambelanes and her own escort, the chambelán. The couples are matched by height and begin practicing the traditional waltz that is performed at the party.
The Quinceañera and her escorts soon go about picking their dresses. The Quinceañera dress is like a traditional wedding dress with the bodice and the bell-shaped skirt, but it is not customary for the dress to have a train. Her dress cannot be white, a color which is reserved for her wedding day (which, I can’t help myself from saying, she is presumed to want to have/will have).
After this, the more mundane parts of the party planning come, like hiring the caterers, renting the space, getting a DJ, finding a Master of Ceremonies—more minutiae that is boring to list. The part of the party that really feels like a wedding is the wad of dough that families slap down—Quinceañera parties can bring costs of $8,000 or more.
On the day of the party, the Quinceañera and her attendants ride cars colored with streamers matching the colors of their dresses. The streamers on the Quinceañera car are white, also, mixed with the theme colors of her party.
The first stop of the decorated cars is the church. The religious ceremony begins with a procession that includes the damas and their escorts followed by the Quinceañera on her father’s arm. Once at the alter, the birthday girl lays down a bouquet of flowers, her rosary, and her prayer books, symbols of a childhood which she is now leaving. She is given a medal of her saint and a birthstone ring, her first adult jewelry, a crown and a new bouquet. She then leaves the church on the arm of her escort.
Following the church, the group has dinner, often including a wedding-like cake with as many as seven layers decorated with frosting in her colors. The court lines the floor and the Master of Ceremonies says the girl’s name—this announcement is the Quinceañera's official moment of entry into adulthood. The youngest person in the family gives the Quinceañera a doll that is wearing the girl’s party dress, a symbol that she is no longer a child. Next, the girl’s mother brings her a pair of heels. Her mother removes the girl’s slippers and puts the new shoes on her feet. Then, the whole group dances the waltz they have been perfecting.
Sources and further reading:
http://www.therosedress.com/Quinceanera/Quinceanera_Dresses_Tradition.asp