Saturday, July 17, 2010

A rite of passage

This week my baby sister celebrated her Quincetta (pronounced kin-son-nyet-uh). This is a big deal to us Mexi-mutts but considering how many people this week asked me if that meant she was sixteen I feel I should elaborate.



It is often a discussion I have that evolves slowly but surely into an argument with various women I know that a Quincetta is just a Mexican sweet sixteen and should be considered as much. Out of curiosity when writing this article I looked up Quincetta in wikipedia and the closest thing I found was the word "quintet". (I think I might have to do something about this later.) I am surprised how many people have strong feelings about a ritual that is not contained within their culture. I fail to see why it matters to anyone who never had a quincetta or knew anyone who did? Then again, perhaps I miss the obvious.


I am proud to say that when I was younger I had my Quincetta and someday, God willing, my daughters will too, but now I know I am getting ahead of myself as I'm sure most of you are not familiar with this term. A Quincetta is a Mexican ritual in which a girl upon her fifteenth birthday (or as soon afterwards as can be managed) reaffirms her vows of baptism, within a Mass, dedicates her life to Mary, and is for the first time considered an adult. Rather than being an anglo Sweet Sixteen party (aside from being too early) it would probably be more closely related to a Jewish Bar Mitzvah, except only girls have them. It is very beautiful and, I think, very important for young girls to celebrate though I don't always agree with what it has evolved into.


To put it in perspective, when I turned fifteen I had a very simple Mass, wore a very simple dress, and rededicated myself to God and to Mary. I remember it very well. I did not have the pomp that is normally associated with Quincetta's now, but that's because simplicity is what I wanted. That being said, I have no problem with other people having the pomp and expense that is generally encouraged with such things. My cousins had that kind of Quincetta and I enjoyed them very much.


To be fair there are some bad things to be said about Quincettas and it would be unfair of me to ignore those critiques. My parents had a friend who also happened to be a priest in Los Angeles who claimed that most girls who had Quincettas, did not have big weddings. I think this is entirely due to the fact that most modern day Quincettas cost as much as the average wedding. However, this is not necessarily true. My cousin Sulema (told you I was Mexican), had a big Quincetta when she was fifteen and had a wedding when she got married. It must also be noted though that her wedding was no as extravagant as her Quincetta.


A man recently asked me how Mexican you have to be in order to have Quincetta. I'm not sure if he was questioning the fact that I am only half Mexican. I cannot claim to be an expert on such things but the answer I gave him was that it is a matter of culture. If you are raised with it then it seems only natural to have one. If you are not familiar with them then I would argue that you have no right to dissaprove.



1 comment:

  1. I think it's spelled Quinceanera, and that's why you didn't find it while searching. (I had to do some googling to get the spelling right.)

    I always thought that Confirmation was close to the Jewish Bar/Bat Mitzvah, but there's a lot of similarity in all of them as a rite of passage into adulthood with religious significance. Both the Jewish and Mexican traditions do generally tend to have large parties attached, but I can't speak from experience, never having been to either a Bat Mitzvah (what they call it if you're a girl) or a Quinceanera. (The only Jewish relatives my age are second cousins, and I've never met any of them.) The only sweet 16 I ever went to was my best friend's, and it was very large and elaborate. Most of her birthday parties were sleepovers at her house, but when she turned 16 her parents rented a community center and held a dance.

    I miss you a lot. We should talk soon!

    ReplyDelete