Dress | Dartmouth Folklore Archive

Title: North America Initiation Rituals: Gifts and Dresses at the Quinceañera a Symbol of Marriageability

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Serena De La Cruz, age 21, is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2019. She was born and raised in San Diego, California. Her ethnic background is Hispanic and Mexican American. She went to a public high school in the city. At Dartmouth, Serena is in Kappa Delta sorority, is a Spanish drill instructor and works at the library. She is planning to major in Geography modified with Medical Communities.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: The U.S. Latinx culture has deep roots in respecting their cultural customs, traditions, and religion from the past. The main religion practiced by this cultural community is the Catholicism. In the U.S. a way many their Latinx families continue to pass down their cultural and religious customs is through the Quinceañera. The Quinceañera is an important way for a girl of Mexican American decent to stay connected to their ethnic history. After completing theQuinceañera a girl becomes incorporated into the cultural community in a meaningful way.
Social Context: The Quinceañera is practiced by most self-identifying Latinx members no matter their economic and geographic situations. TheQuinceañera can vary in how elaborate the ceremony and party is, depending on the particular socioeconomic state of the individual family and community. This coming of age ceremony is not only important to the girl and her family, but also the cultural and Catholic community she is a part of.

Item:

Receiving and opening gifts at birthdays is a common custom across many cultures. For theQuinceañera the gifts have an additional meaning associated with them. The Quinceañera originated as a symbolic transition from childhood to a status of womanhood. Thus in the community she is considered marriageable after her fifteenth birthday. The gifts brought to the girl were for her dowry. Additionally, the dress worn was traditionally white to symbolize her new marriageable status. The symbolism behind the gifts and dress are unique to the Latinx culture. Now, the customs are still used, but the meaning of the overall ceremony is not necessarily about the marriageability anymore.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

“Quinceañeras I think like a lot of coming of age things for women kind of originated like this women is marriageable, she’s a women now. Like the gifts were originally supposed to be for the women’s dowry when she got married. And the dresses were always traditionally white.”

Informant’s Comments:

She notes that though gifts and dresses are important aspects of the Quinceañera, the idea that this ceremony is a mark of marriageability is not necessarily the case anymore. The traditions are passed down and still continue but the meaning is now more about a tradition from childhood to adolescence.

Collector’s Comments:

It never knew that the gifts and dresses had a historical symbolic meaning behind them. It is interesting that modern the Quinceañera and Sweet Sixteen use these old traditions, but did not continue the symbolism behind it.

Analysis:

All initiation rituals consist of three main stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. For the North American Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera, the separation stage consists of the girl getting prepared and planning for the ceremony. This includes, for many girls, their first time wearing tall high heels, getting the makeup professionally done, and wearing elaborate gowns. The transition stage is marked by the various ceremonial traditions. The ceremonial traditions include the opening of gifts, the dance between the father and daughter, reading of speeches, and blowing out candles. The incorporation stage of the Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera is the party after all the ceremonial traditions are completed. The girl celebrates becoming a women with her friends, family, and community.

Comparison:

Comparison within the subgroup: Both the Quinceañera and Sweet Sixteen have opening of gifts and wearing elaborate dresses as a custom. Similar to the candles having different meanings, the gifts and dresses have different symbolism between the two initiation rites. For the Quinceañera, there is historical symbolism behind wearing dresses and the gifts of m But for the Sweet Sixteen these customs are just a part of celebrating a girl transitioning from a child to an adolescent.
Comparison to the rest of subgroups: Many of the culturally based initiation folklore include tasks and physical activities as an aspect of the initiation rite. A comparable initiation rite to the North AmericanQuinceañera and Sweet Sixteenfrom another subgroup was the Jewish Bat Both the Quinceañera and Bat Mitzvahsare rooted in religious beliefs and customs. Since, both these religious based initiation rites are common in America, customs from both are commonly borrowed in Sweet Sixteen celebrations. For example, all three use opening gifts as a central tradition associated with the ceremony. In the context of the rest of the our group, this piece of folklore is another example of a tradition that is a transition point in a person’s life.

Collector’s Name: Darien Jones,Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

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Dartmouth Folklore Archive