Críticas Magazine

Adriana V. Lopez

Four Versions of Quince Fun
May 3, 2008

I want to recommended four books out there on the Quinceañera, that coming of age ritual that celebrates a Latin girl’s fifteenth birthday. If you're trying to fill out your collection, here are four very different takes on the this Latino ritual. The first, Once upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the USA is a sociologically informative non-fiction look at the cultural tradition written by Julia Alvarez (that's also available in Spanish). The second is Estrella’s Quinceañera, a charming and zany young adult novel by Malina Alegria. The third, Quinceañera:The Essential Guide to Planning the Perfect Sweet Fifteen Celebration, is the actual how-to book on planning the party by Michelle Salcedo. And the fourth, is a book of fifteen short and true stories by prominent Latino writers that yours truly edited last year. It’s called Fifteen Candles: 15 Tales of Taffeta, Hairspray, Drunk Uncles and other Quinceañera Stories  and it’s now available in Spanish (!) as Quinceañeras: 15 relatos de coronas, tafetan, tios borachos y mas. There’s a story by Felicia Luna Lemus about a goth chick who dreams of wearing Dracula fangs to her quinceañera, by Alberto Rosas about a lesbian mom who seduces her daughter's chambelán, and by Angie Cruz’s choreographer who creates a George Michael-slash-merengue típico dance medley and lots more. And for a taste of what the boys opine about these parties, there are also four stories written by men. The stories vary by gender, orientation, social class, region of the Americas, and generation. They should make you remember what it was like turning fifteen. So go ahead, blow out the candles and make a wish.

 

Here’s an excerpt from Fifteen Candles’ introduction where I explain to a newcomer what this Quince ritual is all about:

".......On the edge of adulthood, turning fifteen can pose many existential questions about your future role in society. Especially when the deep- seeded symbolism of the quinceañera ritual is involved. This ultimate coming- out party for Latinas in the States and in Latin America has always, and will always remain, a rite of passage to cherish forever or relive in therapy first, and eventually grow from (most of this collection’s contributors belong to the latter group).
        This ostentatious girl- to- woman transformation tradition has been hard to shake for Latinos since its rougher beginnings in Aztec culture, where fifteen- year- old girls were feted for being ready for marriage and procreation, and boys for war. After Europe spread its influence over the Americas, quinceañera parties for upper- crust debutantes had more of a cotillion bent to them. This formal introduction of rosy- cheeked girls to society included the not- so- Latin- American waltz and usually came with a crown, a fancy gown, and fifteen dancing couples.
       In the last decades, having a quinceañera party has gone in and out of fashion like any gyrating teen heartthrob of the day. But in the last few years, cities all across the United States have witnessed quite the quinces comeback. Call it a case of major Latin pride, or Bat Mitzvah and Sweet Sixteen envy, but flocks of Latinos are resurrecting this ritual to all- new millennium heights with ceremonies as opulent as a Dynasty wedding. Pyrotechnics aside, we’re still a traditional people and most of the quinceañeras’ earmarked traditions still linger, albeit with new twists for our multiculti imes. Some families still opt for modest backyard parties, some do it up in big catering hall parties, some rent out Disney World, and some prefer a reflective religious ceremony. But all include the girl, her family and friends, the big expectations, the nerves, and eventually the messy mush of memories.
          It doesn’t matter whether you were the only Latino family in town or if your neighborhood grocery had a fully stocked Goya foods section, if you lived in the States, a quinceañera party affirmed your Latinoness. And at fifteen, many writers from this collection weren’t sure about this multigenerational- Latino-Catholic- formal- dance- party- with- free- alcohol thingamajig. It could be kind of surreal for the average young Latino. Maybe you’d been to a wedding or two in your youth, but this was about celebrating a peer’s initiation into the trappings of adulthood. No groom in sight, just God. “I mean, gosh!” the average preteen might ponder, “there’s this holy reception fi rst, then we’re at this huge party, she’s suddenly wearing makeup and jewelry, she’s waltzing, she’s followed around by girls in matching dresses and dudes in tuxes, her ather dances with her and then encourages her to dance with other guys, and she’s trading in her fl at slippers for sexy heels?!”
        Whether you’re related to the quinceañera, dating her, in love with her mother, a friend of a friend of hers, or just there for the free food, you’re still at this function asking yourself questions about where you fit into this spectacle. Under the heel- beaten floorboards of this seemingly harmless fiesta lie bigger, thornier issues for the preteen Latino to consider: the curiosities of cultural traditions, recurring acne, the church, appropriate dancing techniques, peculiar relatives, covert drinking, unflattering formal attire, the opposite sex, the stereotypes and mandates of your own sex and, most importantly, whether this means you’re now allowed to have sex.
          In my search for fifteen writers with a personal story to tell about a quinceañera event in their lives, I found the majority of tales fell into five types of categories: the writer who had a party, the writer who was forced to have a party, the writer who dreamed about a party, the writer who was serendipitously invited to or crashed a party, and the writers asked to be a dama (pseudobridesmaid) or a chambelán (quasi groomsman) in the quinceañera’s court (adolescent bridal party). I was thankful for the bounty of story submission ideas I received, and was relieved that there were plenty out there with a fun- loving sense of humor willing to be frank about the freaky stuff that had happened to them on the way to Quincelandia."

Copyright: HarperCollins, 2007

Posted by Adriana V. Lopez on May 3, 2008 | Comments (0)