quinceañera

n. a coming-out party held for a girl’s 15th birthday; a debutante ball or cotillion. Subjects: Spanish

Etymological Note: Spanish quinceañera, which also means “a fifteen-year-old girl.” The Spanish pronunciation is similar to keen-say-ah-NYAIR-ah.

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Citations: 1978 Lou Cannon @ L.A. Washington Post (Mar. 26) “Latin Influence Mounts Throughout Southwest” p. A1: Well-off Mexican-Americans have adopted the Mexican custom, following a tradition of 16th-century Spain, of presenting their 15-year-old daughters to society at events known as Quinceanera balls. 1984 Benjamin Forgey Washington Post (June 14) “Galleries”: The work is a shrine-like assortment of elements from the real world—Cuban and American flags, a striking white gown of the kind a 15-year-old Cuban girl (a “quinceanera") might wear to her coming-out celebration. 1997 Charlene C. Giannetti The Rollercoaster Years (Aug. 4) p. 23: Cuban Americans mark their daughter’s turning fifteeen with an elaborate party, called a quince. The “sweet fifteen bash,” which has evolved from the Hispanic quinceanera, is a Latino debutante ball, complete with feasting and choreography of mambo and conga dancing. 2005 Thomas E. Franklin Record (N.J.) (June 13) “Picture this: ‘Quinceañera’”: Traditionally, a quinceañera is a young Latina woman’s celebration of her 15th birthday—when a girl is symbolically transformed into a woman. 2006 Lizette Alvarez New York Times (May 11) “Latinas Make Sweet 16-ish Their Own”: There is no doubt that the Hispanic coming-of-age quinceañera is more popular, move lavish and, in subtle ways, more American than ever. Picture a souped-up debutante ball without the high-society trappings or a bat mitzvah with an extra dose of razzle-dazzle, and a portrait emerges of many modern-day quinceañeras, a term that derives from the word quince (pronounced KEEN-say), which means 15 in Spanish.

Posted 19 Aug 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend