Quinceañera

Quinceañera (Spanish pronunciation: [kinθeaˈɲeɾa]; feminine form of "fifteen-year-old"), also called fiesta de quince años, fiesta de quinceañera, quince años, quinceañero or simply quince, is a celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday in parts of Latin America and elsewhere in Latin American communities. This birthday is celebrated differently from any other as it marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood. Latin myths and tradition tell about how girls were prepared for marriage by age fifteen or else they became nuns. In the years prior to their fifteenth birthdays, girls were taught to cook, weave, and about childbearing by the elder women in their communities in preparation for their expected lives as married women. The celebrations today vary significantly across countries; celebrations in some countries, for example, have taken on more religious overtones than in others.