Quinceañeras

The fiesta de quince años (also fiesta de quinceañera, quince años and quince) is a celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday. It has its cultural roots in Latin America but is widely celebrated today throughout the Americas. The girl celebrating her 15th birthday is a quinceañera (Spanish pronunciation: [kinseaˈɲeɾa]; feminine form of "fifteen-year-old"). In Spanish, and in Latin American countries, the term quinceañera is reserved solely for the girl. In English, primarily in the United States, the term is used (mostly by non-Latinos) to refer to the celebrations associated with the birthday, such as when the male or female dance with the 15-year-old and entertain the crowd.

This birthday is celebrated differently from any other as it marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood. Historically, in the years prior to their fifteenth birthdays, girls were taught cooking, weaving, and about childbearing by the elder women in their communities in preparation for their future roles as wives.

In the past, parallel customs could be found in the Iberian Peninsula and France. Today, the custom remains strongest in Mexico, its likely country of introduction. However, it is widely celebrated throughout Spanish America (although, for some reason, it is somewhat uncommon in Chile). The grandest parties are comparable to the debutante balls formerly held in the United Kingdom and the United States. The celebrations themselves vary significantly in different countries; for example, the festivities in some have taken on more religious overtones than in others. Nowadays, the quinceañera is also celebrated by many Latino Americans in the United States, each according to their respective national traditions.

In Brazil, a Portuguese-speaking country, the same celebration is called festa de debutantes, baile de debutante or festa de quinze anos. In the French Caribbean and French Guiana, it is called fête des quinze ans.

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