Will all the American girl celebrate their Quinceañera?

42 comments

1. Some American girls have what is called a Sweet 16 party which is similar.

   Usually only the Hispanic families have a quiceanera

2. My Mexican side of the family doesn’t even do their quinceaneras

3. Some American girls celebrate their quinceañera, but only if that is a tradition in their family. I’ve never heard of someone who isn’t from a culture that celebrates quinceañeras having one. Other American teenage girls sometimes have sweet sixteen parties, but this also isn’t the norm (I didn’t have one).

4. Girls whose parents or grandparents or who are originally from countries that have quincineras will have them. I had a really good friend in high school whose parents were from Colombia, and she had one. But I’ve never heard of like white anglo people having one. We have sweet 16 parties though which are similar in concept.

5. When I first moved to Arizona I started dating this beautiful Hispanic girl, and every weekend of the 8 or so months we dated seemed like it was spent at a Quinceañera.

6. I’m gonna refer to stewie griffin on this one

7. No, really only some of the ones with Latin American families.

8. There are sub-cultures in America based on what your or your families recent heritage is. Not everyone shares the heritage of people who celebrate a quinceañera. Usually quinceañeras are celebrated among Mexican communities but some Cuban, Spaniards, Columbian and French Caribbean people will celebrate it too.

   You won’t see (many) people outside of those cultures celebrating it because it isn’t part of their culture.

   But you may see some American’s celebrating a Sweet 16 instead which is similar but not exactly the same ceremony or tradition.

   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_sixteen_(birthday)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_sixteen_(birthday))

9. A quinceañiera is really only celebrated by Latino families and not necessarily all of them. Americans have a “sweet 16” which is similar but not much celebrated these days.

   Most Americans just have birthday parties for their kids. Fun fact, my kid is at one right now!

10. If it’s in their Hispanic culture, then they will celebrate it. It really depends on them. Im asian American and in my culture there is a coming of age party at 18. I did not do it but I had a graduation party

11. My daughter is half Mexican and she didn’t want one for some reason. I think they’re nice

12. As others have said, it’s largely dependent on one’s heritage. Girls with a Hispanic background will tend to have quinceañeras, some girls will have Sweet 16s, girls of Jewish heritage may have bat mitzvahs at 12; in my culture, girls may have their debut at 18.

    Socioeconomic and other conditions may also be a factor; my Cuban and Mexican friends’ daughter celebrated her quinceañera about four years ago, church service, reception at a hall through the night, all her classmates, the whole shebang, but another pair of friends’ daughter (Mexican and Costa Rican) turned 15 in the middle of the pandemic and all she got was a parade of well-wishers driving in front of her house while she sat in the front yard in her dress with her parents.

13. Equivalent to that is a sweet 16 but celebrating an actual Quinceanera? Only ones in the US that celebrate that are those with Mexican heritage, from what I’ve seen.

14. Quinceaneras are only a Latino thing. Sweet 16 is generally the mainstream American thing.

    I honestly don’t think Hayleigh Smith from Louisville, Kentucky is going to have a quinceañera, especially since their is a Catholic mass element to the ceremony.

15. one side of my family is from Puerto Rico and Nicaragua. They just told me congratulations welcome to being a woman when I turned 15 and that’s it. But my American family (i mean being in the US for generations) waited till I was 16 to tell me the same thing.

    I didn’t have a sweet 16 or a quinceañera – quince. I am from Miami with tons of Latinos and Hispanics and I’ve never heard anyone talk about their own. Or have even seen one in person. Maybe I’m wrong but I’ve never heard any Cuban, Central Americans or Puerto Rican girls here talk about it. Being 15 is still a big deal though for us. But the only parties I have ever seen was when I was outside of Miami around a more Mexican population. There’s not many Mexicans in Miami (in comparison to other groups)

    Plus it’s not an all Hispanics thing. I know my friend in Chile says it’s not really a thing there.

    Honestly I imagine it’s like sweet 16. Some people care and some don’t. Some celebrate their 16th birthday without all the flash and stuff. Some want to. The point still stands that without the party it’s still significant yk?

16. Why would they?

17. It’s specific to Latino cultures typically. A Sweet 16 is a more common American “coming of age” celebration for girls, while Jewish kids have Bar and Bat Mitzvahs (at 13 for boys, 12 or 13 for girls).

18. Bruh.. that’s not an American thing that’s for Mexicans and a few cental American countries

19. I have only ever seen this celebrated in Hispanic families. Others may have a “sweet 16” as an equivalent (but usually with a smaller religious component to it), or a bar mitzvah at age 13 among Jewish families.

20. Quinceañeras are a Hispanic tradition. It has not transferred to other ethnic groups and is not likely to do so. In fact the elaborate Quinceañeras are starting to die out in many families that have been here for a few generations and smaller celebrations are starting to become the norm.

    The American population as a whole already have a similar coming of age celebrations called “Sweet 16”, and Cotillion Dances. Both of which are from the English upper class tradition of the aristocracy presenting their daughters to the royal court to indicate that they are old enough to start being courted for marriage. But both of the traditions have been in decline as well since the 1950s.

21. It would be highly unusual in my area for a non-Hispanic girl to have a quinceañera. The majority here *is* Hispanic and I would guess probably about 80% of them would have one.

    I’ve occasionally heard non-Hispanic friends tell Hispanic girls they wish they could have one, to which the Hispanic girl usually says “well, you could…” so I’m sure there are at least some non-Hispanic girls living in heavily Hispanic areas who have actually done so. But certainly it would be odd and commented on.

22. Do Americans have birthdays? Yes. However, a Quinceañera is a celebration of growing into adulthood so I’d say that turning 18 is the equivalent milestone. It should be noted that because we’re a country made up of mostly immigrants and Indigenous Americans that birthday and coming of age celebrations can be different depending on your personal traditions and culture.

23. Don’t think they are very popular among Mexican Americans in California

24. My wife’s family are all Hispanic, or Tejano, or Chicano or whatever… I never heard of a Quince till I met her. They threw one for one for a cousin of hers, it was pretty fun, badass food, beer, booze, a bunch of gifts for the girl.. But to answer your question, I’ve only heard of Quinceaneras taking place with Mexican American families… Other nationalities usually throw a sweet 16, or something else

25. No. Even my aunts who are Mexican and Catholic didn’t celebrate it from what I was told. It isn’t really an American/U.S. tradition; but more of a Latin American one.

26. Most American girls do not do this as it is not part of their culture.

27. It’s a Sweet Sixteen, not fifteen in the US. Americans certainly aren’t going to use a Spanish word for a celebration of sorts, except in the recent immigrant Hispanic community.

28. No. I wouldn’t say it’s just the Hispanic population here, but it is certainly seen as more of a Hispanic thing that has just started to bleed into other subcultures as well. Many people don’t bother with it at all.

    For example, in Jewish culture, the Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebration fills a similar cultural role, but that is usually done at the 13th birthday rather than the 16th.

29. I think all those ceremonies are gross. “My daughter is now available for marriage!”… yuck.

30. I am of Mexican descent, first gen on my dads side and second gen on my mom’s side, and my sister and I are the only ones of our cousins to not have a quinceañera 🤷🏻‍♀️ but— neither my mom nor any of my maternal aunts had one either

31. No not all this time

32. It’s exclusively a Latino thing, and even then not all of them do it.

    Still, I lost count of how many I attended growing up but…y’know. Florida.

33. So, firstly, as you may have noticed, most of us don’t feel bound to that particular tradition or its equivalents. Nobody is mandating people participate, certainly not in the larger, cultural sense. That said…..

    The sweet sixteen is the non-Latina, non-Jewish version. Jewish girls have bat mitzvahs at 13 years old*.

    *Jewish boys have bar mitzvahs and 13 is the standard age, but it’s not totally uncommon to be bat/bar mitzvahed later on. I suppose if you were a Jewish Latina, you could have both a quinceañera AND a bat mitzvah, but I’m in Kentucky. I don’t know any Jewish Latinas.

    If anybody here is an American, Jewish Latina, i’d definitely like to know if you do both. Just curious.

34. That’s mainly just mexican-americans, I think maybe some cuban-americans do it too.

35. I’ve only heard of it for Hispanic people, and even then not all of them. It’s probably more common within certain Hispanic cultures (different countries of origin). I think it’s especially common amongst Mexicans.

    Amongst non Hispanic families something sort of similar called a “Sweet 16” at age 16 is done occasionally.

36. No, but Day of the Dead seems to be gaining popularity among non-Hispanic origin people.

37. No. It’s a thing in some Latino Communities, and even then not all of them.

    Other groups ‘might’ have a Sweet 16 party when a girl turns 16, but not all of them. I haven’t heard of anyone having one of those in years.

    Are cotillions and debutante balls still a thing in the south? Although those were a ‘group’ thing, not for an individual.

38. Just Hispanic Americans.

39. A traditional Quinceañera is tied to the Catholic church. Some of my friends and family had one and some didn’t. They can be quite expensive (mini wedding). So no, most American girls will not have one.

40. I think I remember one of my friends having something special for a fifteenth birthday and she’s African American. But it could have just been a nice party, she was fairly wealthy. Other than that I don’t know anyone who’s not Hispanic that has quinceañera’s

41. Mostly a Hispanic culture celebration, all Americans celebrate coming of age differently was we have differing customs and beliefs. The most similar thing i can think that’s broadly popular in America though would be a sweet 16 party, but even then that’s more of a wealthier people thing imo.

42. No, not unless a family is Hispanic and it’s part of their familial tradition. I had not even heard of this as a thing until I saw an episode of King of the Hill about it when I was an adult (I live in a region with a very low Hispanic population)