Travails and Travels!: Quinceañera

On Friday night, the ladies of the Yellow House (and many of the other North Americans living in Tegus) surprised our roommate, Julienne, with a belated quinceañera. The actual Spanish word quinceañera describes a girl who is fifteen years old. The word also serves as the formal name for a girl's fifteenth birthday. However, more recently quinceañera refers to the formal party thrown upon a Latin American girl's fifteen birthday. In the U.S., a quinceañera can be likened to the "sweet sixteen" birthday. The show on MTV called My Super Sweet 16 functions as a pretty apt comparison to the scale at which a quinceañera is celebrated. In any case, a quinceañera marks a huge milestone for a girl in Latin American culture, one that symbolizes her entrance into the adult world.

From what I understand, a quinceañera is a mix between a wedding and a debutante ball. The idea is to introduce the new woman to the world. Hundreds of guests are invited. Delicious food is prepared. Decorations are slathered on banquet room walls. Back home in Grand Rapids, I heard of quinceañera that took place in the ballroom at the Amway Grand Hotel, the most glitzy expensive venue in town. On her fifteenth birthday, a Latin American girl is an absolute princess for a day. In fact, many quinceañera's wear a tiara and a gown designed to resemble that of Cinderella's own ball gown.

Like most North American girls, Julienne never experienced this type of celebration on her fifteen birthday Apparently, a few weeks before my arrival, she mentioned to some of the girls that she always lamented not experiencing a quinceañera for herself. Thus, a secret plan was hatched to make Julienne's dream come true. On Friday night, we told Julienne that everyone was going to Gino's, an Italian restaurant in Tegus.

(A picture of the ladies of the Yellow House in their formal wear heading to "Gino's". From the left: Jen, myself, the unsuspecting Julienne, Sarah, and Paula.)

Before we started the car to drive to "Gino's" (wink, wink) we blindfolded a baffled Julienne.

We proceeded to drive all over town, chiefly to confuse her but also to buy her a birthday granita (frappaccino). Once we arrived at Casa Gigante for the party, we had Julienne to change into a more formal dress.

(Julienne, granita in hand, lead by Manu and Paula to her quinceañera).

Typically, at a quinceañera, the birthday girl's father escorts her into the ballroom. After that, a father-daughter dance ensues. In fact, a quinceañera may involve an number of formal dances. Most parties include at least a dance with the father and the date. Because Julienne's real father wasn't present to lead her, Manu kindly stepped in. Fittingly, Julienne and Manu danced to Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle.

A girl turning fifteen must also bring a date to her party. Julienne's main squeeze is back home in GR so Nacho Libre was gracious enough to give Julienne her first dance as a woman.

Next up, the dance of the damas (ladies). It is not weird for the friends of the quinceañera to learn a dance routine to be performed at the party. The quinceañera at the Amway Grand included a formal dance routine presented by ten damas and ten caballeros (gentlemen) to a Ricki Martin song. Below is a picture of some of Julienne's damas dancing to (what else?) La macarena.

A "throne" was prepared for Julienne lest she become tired. Her tiara and her scepter were presented to her.

Like a true quinceañera papa, Manu gave a speech to toast to his "daughter's" womanhood. Then a slideshow played, displaying pictures of Julienne's journey to adulthood.

Next comes the cutting of the cake. Like a wedding cake, a quinceañera cake is a much fussed over ordeal, one that covers most of a six-top table. April of the Green House designed a postre fit for a princesa, complete with a cake-topper. Unfortunately, the delicious frosting was made with cream cheese and the cake turned slightly droopy (but no less appetizing).