Customary/Ritual

Mexican Quinceañera

YO

Zoom

October 19, 2020

Informant Data:

YO is a senior at Dartmouth College, where she is a geography major and Latin American studies minor. She was born in Tangamandapio, which is in the Michoacán region of Mexico. When she was three, she moved with her parents and her two older brothers to central California, where she now resides. She has a large extended family, with 99 first cousins. All of her family is from Mexico, and many of them continue to live there. YO travels frequently to Mexico to visit her family. She is Catholic and comes from a religious family. She remains very connected both to her Mexican culture and her Catholic religion.

 

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: A quinceañera is a large celebration in Mexican culture based on the Spanish word for fifteen: quince. The tradition finds roots in Aztec culture, and continues to be widely celebrated today in both Latin America and among Latin American communities in the United States. The celebration marks the transition from childhood into womanhood.

Social Context: Only girls have a quinceañera. The celebration consists of two parts: a religious mass and a party. Especially for religious families, the mass is the more formal and important component of the celebration, though the party has become quite popular. The celebration is very meaningful for the birthday girl, as it is a special day dedicated just to her. Those present include family, extended family, family friends, and friends. Extended family and distant relatives often travel from far away to attend. Though many guests attend both the mass and the party, sometimes more guests show up for the party than for the mass. Rituals at the party emphasize the coming of age. In the changing of the shoes ceremony, the birthday girl’s father exchanges her flats for heels. There is then a father-daughter dance. The birthday girl is then gifted her last doll by a younger family member to symbolize the birthday girl leaving childhood.

 

Item:

This information is paraphrased from notes taken during YO’s Zoom interview.

To celebrate their fifteenth birthday, Mexican and Mexican American girls have a quinceañera, a coming-of-age celebration consisting of both a mass and a party. Throughout both, the birthday girl wears a crown and princess-like dress. During the mass, the girl walks down the aisle with her parents and approaches the Virgin Mary with flowers, a thanks-offering for making it to this age. The girl receives a metal ring to remind her of her faith. After this ceremony, everyone travels to the party venue, where they eat and dance to Mexican-style music, such as salsa. The birthday girl participates in the changing of the shoes ceremony, the father-daughter dance, and the gifting of her last doll.

 

Naomi Meron, 21

Dartmouth College

RUSS 13

Fall 2020