Sixteen going on Quiceañera

In the Latin culture for a young girl, turning fifteen is a big deal. We have a big party called quinceñeras to commemorate the moment. We have a ceremony and give gifts to the quinceañera that symbolizes her coming into womanhood. Rituals like the switching of the shoes into heels and the Daddy Daughter Dance. I grew up around my Hispanic culture all the time, at home, at church, with my family. I always wanted to embrace this culture but I’m the second generation in my family that was born in America, so it seemed like a lot of effort to show my culture. I have no accent, I don’t speak Spanish and I don’t know how to dance salsa. So this was kind of a way for me to feel like this was a part of my culture and something I could take part in. I felt so lucky and special to be able to have a sweet sixteen-like party a year before everyone else would. This was what drew me into this tradition, let alone the fact that I’d get to look like a princess and wear a poofy dress.

I had been looking forward to this birthday celebration ever since I was little. I’d draw myself wearing my dream dress on my big day and imagine how magical it would be. By the time I was nine I started planning out everything in my head. I decided who’d be in my court, the theme, the colors. My mom and I would even count down the years we had left to plan. Then I turned 14 and it was time for the planning of this big blowout quince. We finally started to get some things done in the planning. We found the most beautiful dress online and bought it for a great deal. We decided on an art gallery theme and would display all of my works of art over the years. I had made my own Save the Dates on a website and we ordered them. I decided the dresses the girls in my court would wear and asked them to be in it. We bought souvenirs for our guests, booked the hall, and picked out the menu.

But then it was March 2020 and Covid-19 had spread into the United States. As it started to get worse and worse my school shut down and we started online learning. We were holding onto some hope that we could still have a safe party and we were trying to plan this party in the middle of a global pandemic. We rushed and jumped through hoops trying to have a safe party. And then that beautiful dress I had been waiting for finally showed up on the front doorstep. I rushed to the door and quickly opened it up. But the dress that I found inside was not at all the dress in the picture. The material was cheap and the shade of purple they used made it look tacky and when I tried it on it looked like a big cupcake. It was so poofy I looked like I was a southern bell. So now I was really upset, my quinceañera was no longer a dream, it was a nightmare. There was so much uncertainty and the number of people we could have was about half of our guest list. Even if we could have everyone there many people in my family wouldn’t go because of Covid. We went back and forth with whether we should postpone or try to plan a safe party. Planning a quinceañera takes a lot of effort as it is, but trying to plan one while trying to take precautions for our health was another story. It became so hard and I thought that I would be so stressed and burdened with the fact that if I have this party there’s a possibility someone could get sick. Then my mom told me that we had to postpone it for the next year. I was devastated, never in my life had I ever thought that I wasn’t going to have a quinceñera at the proper age.

When my birthday was getting closer in September, I had to do something. I didn’t want to remember my fifteenth birthday as such a downer. So I planned a drive-by and a small get-together with my family. I had just published a children’s book and just started getting sales, so people came by and got autographs and some cupcakes. Afterward, we laid down air mattresses, watched a movie in my backyard, and made smores. Although it wasn’t the quinceñera blowout I imagined or expected it was a good birthday because I had the people that love me all in one place to celebrate it. Now the planning for my upcoming sixteeñera is back on. We are keeping the same traditions and ceremonies. I bought a new dress that looks just as beautiful in person as it does in the picture and the only difference is that I’ll be turning sixteen. So the story is still not over yet and I’m sure that my sixteeñera dream can come true.

#sixteeñera