Quinceañera
Quinceañera is a celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday. It has its cultural roots in Latin America but is widely celebrated today throughout the Americas. The girl celebrating her 15th birthday is a quinceañera. In Spanish, and in Latin American countries, the term quinceañera is reserved solely for the girl. In English, primarily in the United States, the term is used (mostly by non-Latinos) to refer to the celebrations associated with the birthday.
This birthday is celebrated differently from any other as it marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood. Historically, in the years prior to their fifteenth birthdays, girls were taught cooking, weaving, and about childbearing by the elder women in their communities in preparation for their future roles as wives.
