Sunday, December 30, 2007

Quinceañeras

The term quinceañera refers to the young lady who has arrived to the tender age of 15 years. It's sort of a "coming of age". Wikipedia has a definition and some historical facts from various Latin American countries. I was shocked, though, to find that there was no reference to Mexico. Particularly disappointed because, if there is a country where the quinceañera party is relevant, it would be Mexico!

We went to the Quince Años party of one of my nieces last Saturday. It was a really good party, although quite different from what I was used to. First, there was lots of dancing and even an spectacle (the Quinceañera put a show with dancers and choreography and so on). Second, the music was computer-generated (no actual live group). Third, it started super late... we were having dinner at midnight, and it went until 4.30am.

The party was really good in many ways. One of them was that it provided a forum and an opportunity for some members of my family (and the extended family) to erase former grudges and create new bridges. For doing that, I'll have to give my Mom props. She's the family's diplomat. It was nice to see members of my family that I hadn't actually seen or had any sort of contact with after a few years.

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