One hundred people gathered in a gorgeous garden on Morgan Hill to celebrate 15-year-old Marlene Villarruel-Perez in October 2021. There was a statue of the Virgin Mary, Marlene read from the Bible, and a priest attended from Salinas. Guests dropped gift cards into a wishing well created by Marlene’s uncle. Later, there would be a custom cake made especially for the ceremony, a disc jockey, and a photo booth for guests to enjoy.

Though as symbolic and elaborate as a wedding, there was no groom involved in this celebration. This was Marlene’s quinceanera. A quinceanera, also called quinceaños, quince años, or simply quince, observes a girl’s 15th birthday, marking her passage from girlhood to womanhood. Celebrated in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean, as well as Latino communities in the U.S. and elsewhere, a quinceañera is both a religious and social event that emphasizes the importance of family and society in the life of a young woman.

Villarruel-Perez says it historically signified a young woman’s availability for marriage, as well. “It’s like a coming of age,” she says. “You’re presenting your daughter to the world, to show the world your daughter is a woman now.”

The quinceanera is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that moms and their daughters dream about while they are still little girls, and planning is nearly as lengthy and painstaking as a wedding. For instance, when Villarruel-Perez couldn’t find a dress locally, she and her mother trekked to Los Angelos to find one. Villarruel-Perez’s mom, Cristina Perez, ordered a doll dress on Etsy that was similar to Villarruel-Perez’s dress. “I gave it to her as a gift,” Perez says.

The doll is part of the celebration. The guest of honor, known as the “quinceanera,” traditionally hands off the doll to a younger sibling or relative, typically a teddy bear or porcelain doll. This doll wore a mini-tiara to match the one Villarruel-Perez wore, also a traditional part of the quinceanera.

In an additional ritual, the quinceanera removes her shoes, usually sneakers, to don her first pair of heels. Villarruel-Perez danced with her dad to a song that he sang to her when she was little. “She took off her tennis shoes and put on heels,” Perez says. “It was from tennis shoes to womanhood.” 

Liana Maldonado’s quinceanera is in May. Maldonado, who is full Latina, says the event has a lot of symbolism. “I’ve seen a lot of family have their quinceaneras,” she said. “I like the tradition. I’m happy that I will be next. I can see it, our family and our culture.”

The guest list is limited to 120 due to the pandemic, and Maldonado has choreographed a dance. She plans to have mariachi music playing as she enters the room and makes her way to the main dance floor. Her mother, Brenda Hernandez, says Liana will wear Vans for the traditional shoe dance. Liana’s dad has been her stepfather for seven years, so the dance is an especially meaningful way for them to connect. “She’ll have her first song with her grandmother and will take off the shoes and put on her first pair of heels and dance with her dad,” Hernandez says. 

 Maldonado is the first child in her family to have the quinceanera. “She’s my first, she’s my baby,” Hernandez said. “People are like, you’re going to spend all of this money? But she’s such a good kid, my husband said let’s go for it. She’s such a great helper. We are doing this to honor her.” 

Bethany Lynn Fowler will celebrate her quinceanera in June with the theme of “A Night in Paris,” according to her mother, Letty Fowler. “We went to France in 2018 and she fell in love with the city,” Letty says. 

Bethany has been planning the event with her aunt since childhood. “Since I was eight years old, that’s all that my aunt and I talked about,” she says. “As I got older we started to get everyone on board. It was something that brought our family closer.”

The “quince” planning itself has been empowering for Bethany. “I struggled a lot with my body image through the process of shopping for a quince dress,” she admits. “It was rough and a huge struggle to find a sample dress that actually fit. In most cases the stores wouldn’t even attempt to have me try on a sample size. There were a lot of tears and disappointment throughout that process. But I finally realized that the dress doesn’t define my body, I define the dress.”

Additionally, it’s a chance to celebrate her heritage, in spite of not being Catholic. “My religion does not define my ethnicity and culture, and I want girls to know that we can honor our culture regardless of the religion we are raised in,” Bethany says. “We can still celebrate our Mexican heritage.”

Bethany’s celebration will feature a taquero (someone who crafts tacos), a surprise dance, and a ceremony in both English and Spanish to honor her recently deceased grandmother, Mama Poly. She will also acknowledge her deceased godmother, Yvonne, by displaying portraits of both during the ceremony. “We talked about [my godmother] presenting me with my tiara because she always called me her princess,” Bethany says. “I do not want to take that away from her so I will be asking her husband, my godfather, to present me with my tiara in her place.”

While the event may have originated as a way to seek marriage prospects, Bethany says times have changed. “Ever since I was little my mom surrounded me with empowering women as role models. Me having a quince is representing the woman I am becoming because of the women who had guided me, and now I get to carve my own path and strive to be like the women who have supported me and continue to show up for me.”

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Jennie Tezak is a reporter for The Chico Enterprise-Record and a freelance writer. She has a B.A. in print journalism from Chico State and a master’s in magazine journalism from NYU. Jennie grew up in Monterey and now lives in Chico with her husband.