The Quinceanera Party

The Quinceanera party, or a Fiesta Rosa, is one that I never gave much thought to, I think that I had heard about it before somewhere.... the party that a Hispanic girl has when she turns 15. Well, since I've been in Houston, every Saturday I see at least one girl dressed up in her Quinceanera dress getting professionally photographed near a beautiful fountain or park setting with the limo waiting nearby. I'm fascinated. I did research. I talked to my husband.

So, the Quinceanera is a type of coming-of-age party that really doesn't compare in my mind to the Sweet 16, at least not the Sweet 16 of today. As you can see from the dress on my right, this is serious. It is like a wedding. Traditionally there is a religious ceremony first. You have las damas, or what I would call the equivalent to the bridesmaides, who all have formal dresses on. You can also have men in your entourage. You have a magnificent cake, a humongous party, a mariachi band, dancing, oh and you also might be wearing a tiara, throwing a bouquet to a group of boys in order to see who will be the lucky man to have the first dance with the lovely Quinceanera. I found that there is also a tradition of the father changing his daughter's show from a low-heeled one to a high-heeled one, signifying her transformation from girlhood to womanhood. Everyone goes to the Quinceanera party, people you invite, people that the people you invited decided to invite, those peoples' friends, everyone. It is supposed to be the party of a lifetime.

I asked Carlos about his sister's Quinceanera party and he couldn't really remember it, probably because she was kind of busy being pregnant I guess. But we talked about what we would do if we had a girl some day.... Quinceanera? Sweet 16? Both? Neither? I suppose it depends on how close the girl would feel to her Peruvian heritage, what her friends were doing, all that. But one thing is for sure--if she gets a Quinceanera party then she'll have to take out loans for her college education. And we'll have to be thinking of the Quinceanera party when we choose godparents since the godparents foot a portion of the bill. Or maybe we could just have a boy. At any rate, I hope to find out more about this party and hopefully even get invited to one!