Juanita Kennedy's Quinceañera took place in 1953.
Juanita rehearsed her "vals" (waltz) one month before her birthday. She gathered all the 14 couples, "chambelanes" and "damas." Each of the couples represent each year of the girl's life.
Juanita wore a champagne colored strapless "brocado" dress which was considered elegant at that time. Her damas wore pastel colored dresses. Her chambelanes wore black suits.
In church, the girl receives her "tedeum"...latin word that means to give thanks to God. The priest welcomed Juanita and read special readings from the bible.
After the thanksgiving, twenty years later to the present it all is known as a "misa (ceremony)."
The ceremony states that first, one used to get from society and now it is your turn to give to society and God. The priest gives the birthday girl a special church blessing.
The girls meet at the quinceañera's house to celebrate the happening with family and friends. Juanita's girlfriends met at her house. Food is a great part of the celebration. A menu of tamales, chicharrones, carnitas, tortillas, salsa, an entire buffet.
Some religious personnel avoid having individual quinceañera celebrations in church. In some cases, a priest blesses more than ten quinceañeras at one time.
The girl receives her last child gift "la muñeca de los recuerdos" (memorabilia doll). This doll is a gift from the godmother. The doll appears to have a ruffled skirt, yet it is made up of individual bows that have that date and the name of the girl engraved. This doll is placed on the main table and then each guests receives a recuerdo, or bow.
Juanita practiced with her group for one month on weekends for nearly three hours. Her parents provided the guests with dinner. That was the tradition and manners.
In Juanita's case, she did not have an extended line of godparents as other girls, she only had a female godparent to walk her down the isle and who purchased her special cake.
Photography was not a big deal during those good 'ol times. Juanita had a picture taken at church and another one at her house. The most important issue was to have everyone at the gathering to spend time with socializing.
At eleven o'clock at night, Juanita's father madethe public announcement. It was to the idea of:
"Here I present to you my daughter Juanita." Her mother read outloud a poem she had written for her. Juanita is the eldest child in the family. The first dance was her "vals" (waltz) which she danced with her father. She danced the second waltz with her damas and chambelanes.
At this time, Juanita's best "gift" was that everyone was there celebrating her birthday and that they accepted to be in her quinceañera celebration. Now in 1995, girls want everything from a limousine driver to a new car! This appalls Juanita who stated in our conversation that many girl's care more about material needs than strengthening their relationship to God, their parents, and the community.
When it came to the music, Juanita did not have a live band or a Mariachi group playing. The music she had was a record player playing the top hits of that time. Juanita's party finished at 7am.
The next morning, everyone in the group came back for the "partida del pastel" (cake cutting). It would be another fiesta beginning around 5 pm and ending at 9 pm. No alcohol was served for nor in front of the minors.
Today's modern tradition is to have a Mariachi, live band and a disc jocky. The individual mass celebration is a thanksgiving and is not one of the sacraments as some people believe it may be.
In deciding to have a quinceañera or not, much depends on the girl's parents. Some parents will impose their ways, other parents are reserved and follow the girl's wishes, and other parents will provide only what the birthday girl basically needs. The girl at times makes the decision.