The Quinceañera comes from a long stem of history dating back to the unity of
the Spaniards & Aztec Indians. Although many have come up with different scenarios
as to how this tradition started, they all lead back to ages of tradition and history.
While doing some extensive research I found that on Christopher Columbus second
voyage between 1503-1504 he encountered a canoe loaded with Indians who were
bartering cotton. These Indians were from the country of the Maya. In 1517
Francisco de Cordova created an expedition and landed on the North Coast. There he
discovered well-built cities. Father Alfonzo Gonzales, who was on the expedition,
found a temple with sacred images and gold ornaments. The abandoned the
expedition because of the bad confrontations with the Indians. In 1518 Juan de
Grijalva went on an expedition from Cuba, landed near Cozumel and took official
control for Spain. Father Juan Diaz was on the expedition and celebrated Mass on
one of the temples. He took the honor of claiming to have the first to celebrate Mass
in the City of Mexico (Want to read more click here)
The Coming of Age celebration has come a long way. The Aztec and Mayan
religious aspect was to send young boys into the jungle for weeks at a time as a
ritual to become men on their own, thus, creating survival. It also meant that young
ladies were doomed for marriage or even becoming old maids if they didn't find a
suitor. When the Spaniard and Indians cultures united their beliefs, the Coming of
Age celebration came to be a Catholic celebrated event. Today s celebrations are
performed more than ever in the Catholic community, however, studies show that
they are being performed by many other denominations all over the world.
