Customary/Ritual

Mexican Quinceañera

MM

Zoom

November 1, 2020

Informant Data:

MM is a senior at Dartmouth College, where she is a History, Government, and Latin American studies triple major. A Mexican American, she was born in Los Angeles, California, and both her parents, as well as her extended family, were born in Mexico. She often travels to Mexico to visit her extended family. She is an only child. She and her family are Catholic.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: In Mexican culture, a quinceañera celebrates a girl’s fifteenth birthday. It is a coming-of-age celebration with roots in Aztec culture.

Social Context: The celebration consists of a religious Catholic mass and a party. Close family, distant relatives, and friends attend the celebration. MM’s celebration was held in Mexico in order to allow more relatives to attend. For MM’s celebration, around 60 people attended her mass, including immediate family, family from out of town, and close friends. The party was a larger gathering, with around 400 people attending. Those who went to the mass also went to the party, and additional guests included the residents of the town, family friends, and friends of MM’s cousins. Gifts often took the form of payment for different aspects of the celebration. For example, one family member paid for MM’s cake, another for the food, and another for her dress.

Item:

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

In traditional Mexican fashion, MM celebrated her fifteenth birthday with a quinceañera to celebrate her transition from girl to woman. The celebration began with a mass, during which the priest spoke about growing up and joining society and the birthday girl presented a bouquet to the Virgin Mary. Afterward, guests traveled to the party, where the birthday girl received her last doll, danced with her father and other male figures in her life, and participated in the changing of the shoes ritual, where her sneakers were exchanged for heels to emphasize her transition from childhood to womanhood.

Naomi Meron, 21

Dartmouth College

RUSS 13

Fall 2020