The Quinceanera or Quince Anos refers to a young girl’s celebration of her fifteenth birthday which is celebrated in a unique style to set it apart from the rest of her birthdays. There are other birthday celebrations that resemble the Quinceanera like the Sweet sixteen birthday or in more wealthy communities a debutante ball at the age of eighteen.
The fifteenth birthday is celebrated differently in order to mark the transition of a girl from childhood to womanhood. The celebrations are held to acknowledge the fact that the young woman has reached marriageable age and is no more a child.
If the girl is a Catholic, the celebrations begin with a Thanksgiving Mass (Misa de Acción de Gracias). The quinceanera wears a formal pink dress and comes to the Mass with her parents, godparents, seven maids of honor and as many chamberlains as she desires. After the Mass, the younger sisters, cousins and friends of the quinceanera give out party favors and the quinceanera leaves her bouquet at the altar. Thereafter everybody enjoys the party organized either at the quinceanera’s home or in a banquet hall hired for the occasion. At the party, the quinceanera dances with her father and other male members of the family. She also has a special dance with her boyfriend.
In Cuba, the celebrations may include a dance group, in which 16 couples dance around the Quinceanera. Sometimes the choreography includes four or six other dancers called Escortes (escorts). They dance around the Quinceanera and are usually dancers adept at improvisation whose movements are intended to emphasize the central couple for the audience.
The fifteenth birthday was widely celebrated in Cuba until the late 1970’s. Cuba was partly influenced by Spain, however the tradition was adopted from France. Affluent families who could afford to rent luxurious halls at country clubs or five star hotels and engage choreographers, started the tradition of Quinceaneras. Following in their footsteps people belonging to lower-income group also started celebrating quinceanera which they referred to as Quinces. Quinces were held either at Quinceanera’s home or at more large houses of relatives or friends.
The tradition of celebrating the fifteenth bithday is still relevant in Latin America and Hispanic communities in North America. Sometimes Quinceanera is celebrated by events that lay emphasis more on the quinceanera’s wishes like going round the world. In some places the more proper Baile de las Debutantes (Debutants’ Ball) still exists.
Salvadoran culture follows the tradition whereby a girl turning fifteen has a ”La Fiesta De Rosas”. “Fiesta De Rosas” is the most awaited occasion in a girl’s life. As in all quinceaños, there is a church mass before the coronation ceremony and other events follow. In “La Fiesta De Rosas” the girl’s dress is usually pink(reflects inocence) with flat shoes before the coronation. After the coronation the girl wears heels instead of flats and the pink dress is replaced by a red dress that symbolozes womanhood.
The rich and the affluent celebrated the occasion at luxurious ballrooms, while individuals belonging to a lower-income group, especially the young enjoyed it from the outside. Servants and other individuals who who catered in the celebrations of the rich were probably the first people to transfer the custom to the rest of the people.
There were some people who saved their income for years to celebrate this important event. The fifteenth birthday acquired such an importance in the life of a young girl that a popular saying goes: “There are two most important things for a woman: her fifteenth and her wedding.”