Preview

Once Upon a Quinceanera

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
353 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Once Upon a Quinceanera
Once Upon a Quinceanera

The quinceañera, the fifteenth birthday celebration for a Latina girl, is quickly becoming an American event. This legendary party is a sight to behold: lavish ball gowns, extravagant catered meals, DJs, limousines, and multi-tiered cakes. The must haves for a "quince" are becoming as numerous and costly as a prom or wedding. And yet, this elaborate ritual also hearkens back to traditions from native countries and communities, offering young Latinas a chance to connect with their heritage.

In Once Upon a Quinceañera, Julia Alvarez explores this celebration that brings a Latina girl into womanhood. She attends the quince of a young woman named "Monica" who lives in Queens, and witnesses the commotion, confusion, and potential for disaster that comes with planning this important event. Alvarez also weaves in interviews with other quince girls, her own memories of coming of age as an immigrant, and the history of the custom itself—how it originated and what has changed as Latinas become accustomed to a supersize American culture. Once Upon a Quinceañera is an enlightening, accessible, and entertaining portrait of contemporary Latino culture as well as a critical look at the rituals of coming of age and the economic and social consequences of the quince parties. Julia Alvarez’s dedicated fans will be eager to hear her thoughts on this topic. It is a great book for anyone interested in American youth today—parents, teachers, and teenagers themselves.
Once, the quinceañera marked a noble girl’s passage to adulthood and her availability for possible marriage. The tradition, which dates back to Aztec culture, was carried northward with the migration of Latin culture. Once across the border, the ceremony became something of a status symbol, with families spending astronomical sums on the pink dresses, DJs, limousines, and high heels that now mark these Latina girls’ 15th-birthday celebrations. Drawing on her own experience as an

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the late twentieth and twenty first century Chicana/o narrative has become a medium to express the injustices that the community faces along with identity conflicts at the individual level. Chicana/o narrative, fictional or autobiographical work, serves as an act of healing and resistance, in which the themes of the gender roles, family, feminism and immigration are predominant. These four themes serve to deconstruct and challenge the patriarchy, while seeking to foster a more inclusive community. Immigration plays a fundamental role in Chicana/o community, Reyna Grande’s memoir The Distance Between Us deconstructing the popular representation of the American Dream by…

    • 1810 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hello, my name is Lexie. I am about to turn 15 years old. This means I finally get to have my Quinceanera! You may be wondering, “What is a Quinceanera?”. A Quinceanera is a Hispanic tradition that celebrates a young girl’s coming of age. I may live in America, but my family is HIspanic. My dad is from South America, and my mom is from Mexico. I can’t wait to be able to celebrate my Hispanic heritage! Another question you may have is, “Why do Hispanics have a Quinceanera?”. The Quinceanera celebrates a young girl’s (Me!) and acknowledges her journey from childhood to womanhood. “What happens at a Quinceanera?’, you ask? Well, a Quinceanera has customs based on God, family, friends, food, dance, and music. The festivities welcome religious traditions, responsibility, and family virtues. The Quinceanera begins with a religious ceremony. Then, there is a reception held in the home of the family or a place where parties are usually held. During a reception, there is food, music, and there may even be a waltz or dance performed by the Quinceanera and her Court. The Court of Honor is a thing where the…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Se Habla Espanola

    • 640 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Barrientos audiences are anyone who struggles with fitting in society just she do. When Barrientos expressed her disagreement of American society’s alleged of Latino being Mexican to her father, he sent her on a vacation to Mexico and after seeing how beautiful Mexico is, adjusted Barrientos negative understanding of Hispanics. “I found out that he was right, I loved the music, the art, and the architecture. “He’d planted a seed of pride, but it would take years for me to figure out how to nurture it” (85). Barrientos limitation of speaking Spanish hinders her bonding with her origin because Spanish aside from English was a way that Latinos connected. Barrientos was left questioning how she would fit in as Latino if she could not speak proper Spanish.…

    • 640 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Compare and contrast

    • 944 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In “The Myth of The Latin Women”, there are numerous stereotypes that Latin women are judged for. Being a Latin woman, Cofer was judged falsely. Clothing in the Latin culture is a means of expression. Cofer explains that woman and girls often wear brightly colored outfits, specifically dresses and skirts. The clothing that Latin women wear also has an influence on how others might see them. Cofer describes that, “As young girls, it was our mothers who influenced our decisions about clothes and colors,” Unfortunately, the media twisted this tradition, making it translate into “Hispanic women as the hot tamale or sexual firebrand” (245).…

    • 944 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The purpose of Judith Ortiz story is to explain how hard, and at times uncomfortable it is to be a Latin woman, because of prejudice and stereotypes regarding their dress. Latin woman, are usually taught to dress in a “mature way”, which many times is confusing to both a Latina and the larger American culture. To a Latina, it is ok to dress sexy, and wear lots of jewelry, and accessories such as tight clothes, bangles, and big hoop earrings on different occasions. This style of dress however, becomes problematic particularly as it is what is taught in the culture as being formal and too often confused with being professional. For Ortiz’s generation, it was ok for woman to wear their best party clothes as she mention, to go and flirt with the boy they like in the park because they were protected by the extended family and traditional Catholic…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Elisabeth Perry placed her thesis statement in her introduction and in her conclusion. She explained how dance halls have destroyed the traditional family and how the Progressive Era led to the first efforts to “understand, theorize, and control adolescence.” Perry strategically strengthened her thesis by telling the audience of a real life story of an innocent immigrant girl named Frieda who fell victim to dance halls and had to face the consequences.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Day Of The Dead Essay

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages

    To see countless skulls, graves, and hearing music may be an odd way to imagine a funeral for some. However, for the people of Latin America, this is beautiful portrayal and magnificent celebration of life after death. A large feast is served, graves are decorated, and altars are set up as colorful vigils. In Mexico, this is called the Day of the Dead or Dia de Muertos. This is the Mexican tradition of celebrating the afterlife and inviting the deceased spirits of loved ones back home. Many people today view death as a tragic and heartbreaking experience, but the people of Central America are elated to see their family members who have passed once again. This paper will discuss how the use of food, embellished altars, and music show commemoration…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Quinceañera is the celebration of the transition from childhood to womanhood when a girl turn fifteen. A Quinceañera traditionally consists of two parts, the church ceremony and the party. The church ceremony is a service in honor of the girl turning fifteen, this usually lasts about an hour. Then is the big party, which is usually held in a building the looks like a huge castle. The girl traditionally wears a big pink princess dress, however, it is common to have a couple outfit changes during the party. Another tradition is that the girl will get either a gold necklace, ring, or earrings with a fifteen on it to wear at the party. At the party, the first thing the girl does is make a big entrance with her parents. Then she changes from the normal shoes she is wearing into heels, which symbolizes the change from being a child to a woman. Next are the individual dances. First, she dances with her dad, then she gets fifteen roses and one-by-one she picks fifteen different people to dance with her. After that, things settle down a little bit and people talk, dance, and enjoy some snacks. About half way through the party, the birthday girl and a group of friends perform a dance that they planned together in front of everyone. Then, a meal is served and while everyone is eating they show a video of all the big events in her life starting from when she was born all the up to her…

    • 1839 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cultural Artifact

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Quinceanera is an important factor of a young woman’s life because they are presented to the world as a young adult growing from being a child to a young lady.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Myth of the Latin Woman

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In “Myth of the Latin Woman”, by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the author points out how she has been treated by different people in different countries due to their conception of her as a Latin woman. She cites several incidents where she was viewed, stereotypically, as a woman only capable of being a housewife, and as a sexual object. She also argues the cross-cultural conflict Hispanics have to deal with on an everyday basis, in this, purely dominated by Caucasians, where cultural traditions are seeing, erroneously, as something purely sexual.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Many cultures around the world celebrate when a girl transitions into a woman. In Hispanic cultures, celebrations for a girl’s change from childhood to womanhood, called Quinceañeras, are celebrated…

    • 1556 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Being a victim of stereotyping is difficult for anyone to deal with. In the essay, “The Myth of the Latin woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria,” author Judith Ortiz Cofer reflects on her experiences being stereotyped as a Latin woman. There are numerous stereotypes that Latin women are subjected to. Cofer shares a few of the ones she has had to face throughout her life. Cofer was judged based on her clothing, her maturity level, and her job. With all of these stereotypes, Cofer comes to her own conclusions on how they came about.…

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tatum, Charles M. Chicano Popular Culture. 1st ed. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2001. 14-48.…

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay Barrientos argues that the language she speaks defines her identity and who she is as a person. As Barrientos was growing up, she realized being Latin-American was not what she wanted to be, she decided to didn’t want to speak Spanish, as Barrientos says, “To me, speaking Spanish translated into being poor.” She also said “It meant waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms. It meant being poor.” She thought if she stayed away from Spanish stereotypes they would…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Don Quixote De La Mancha

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The novel Don Quixote de La Mancha was written by a Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, it is considered one of the greatest works of fiction. The story of Don Quixote starts off like any other adventure novel with the exception of the protagonist being an old man instead of the usual young man who sets off for a journey. Alonso Quixano is a man who becomes so obsessed with the chivalrous examples led by the knights in the books he read, he then decides to go on his own adventure because he believes that everything he has read is true. Alonso renames himself Don Quixote de la Mancha and begins to ride the roads of Spain in hopes for a grand adventure.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays