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A year before Mathew Solis celebrated his 15th
birthday on September 10, 2005, he asked for one
gift: a quinceañero.
"He old us, "Why
do girls get to have all the fun? Why can't I have a
quinceañero?"
said his mom, Rosie. "I said OK, but you have to
have a Mass just like the girls."
With his parents'
blessing, Matthew, then 14, took it upon himself to
do most of the planning.
I picked out the
girls' dresses and the tuxedos for the
guys," the Kennedy High School Freshman said. "And I
made the decorations."
His quinceañera
took place at St. John Berchman Catholic Church and
Matthew's court consisted of eight girls escorted by
his six uncles, a cousin and his godfather.
"He had a king's
crown and a king's chair," Rosie Solis said. "We did
everything a girl would have except it was geared
for a boy."
While Matthew's
public celebration of his rite of passage from
childhood to young adulthood might appear uncommon,
the traditional quinceañera
is breaking tradition with the past, said Adriana
Lopez, editor of Harper Collin's upcoming anthology
"Fifteen Candles; 15 Tales of Taffeta, Hairspray,
Drunk Uncles and other Quinceañera
Stories."
Today, the quinceañera
is no longer restricted to young Hispanic girls, she
said. boys, girls of non-Catholic faiths and other
ethnicities are enjoying quinceañeras.
"There are no
borders anymore," Lopez said. "It's open for
everyone."
What has remained
the same, however, is a family's wish to introduce
their child to society.
"It's a community
event where families are saying, "We're the Reyes
family, and this is our daughter,": she said. "It's
also (party of) celebrating an aspect of Latino
Culture."
Priscilla Mora, a
local quinceañera
planner, auther of a Quinceañera Planner - Listed as
a number 1 resource by Conexión, and owner
of AskPriscillanow.com, said she has known of some
teenage boys who celebrated a quinceañero.
"I think they've
always had them. It's just never been recognized,"
Mora said. "In Mexico, it's more prominent. In the
United States, guys think it's a girl thing, but
some guys don't care. I think it has to do with
machismo."
Young girls from
Anglo to African-American backgrounds who celebrate
15 years usually do after a parent has married into
a Hispanic family. Mora said. She's also had girls
from the Baptist and Lutheran faiths call and ask if
it's OK to have a quinceañera.
"It's neat to me
as long as they grasp the concept of "what it's
about - the blessing, the oath they give to God, and
the mother and father presenting the child to family
and friends under the eye's of God," Mora said.
Sister Rosa Maria
Icaza of the Sisters of charity of the Incarnate
Word and author of "The Quinceañera,
Celebrating Life," explained how the traditionally
Catholic quincañera
crossed over to other religious faiths.
"They copied it
from us," Icaza said, "Some priests don't want to do
it because they feel it's a financial burden on the
family, and it's not a sacrament. So (families) went
to a Methodist or Baptist church, whichever pastor
allowed it.
She also cautioned
parents about going over the top on a child's
quinceañera.
"For their girls,
the father likes to give the very best, and they get
into debt," Icaza said. "They need to be instructed
beforehand that the elaboration doesn't make it any
more meaningful. It should be seen as a rite of
passage." - rasispe@conexionsa.com
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