Quinceañera Dresses By Abbie Strachan

The History of Quinceañeras

Quinceañera was a tradition from the Azetecs, an ancient civilistion from Mexico. Girls at the age of fifteen were believed to be 'women' and so the fifteenth birthday was very important. Because of this, quinceañera was a very important, and very big, celebration.

Even today these celebrations are very big, elaborate, and very expensive. Months of planning goes into making sure that the day runs smoothly. Every detail is covered, even the choreography for the night is practised beforehand.

The Quinceañera Dress

The quinceañera dress is a very important part of the quinceañera tradition. In the past, the dress was traditionally white, to symbolise the purity of the girl. Nowdays the dresses come in all sorts of bright colours and elaborate designs.

The quinceañera has to have the stand-out dress and accessories of the night, so the dress is usually paired with a tiara or crown and some expensive jewellery.

Quinceañera Similarities Sweet 16 15th Birthday Both big birthdays 16th Birthday From the Aztecs Both now celebrated in the USA American Many choreographed dances in partucular sequence Dancing is a large part of both celebrations Father-daughter dance Very large and expensive party, sometimes the girl is given a trip to Europe instead because they cost about the same. Both can be very large and expensive celebrations. Can be anything from a small party to a huge formal one.

Bibliography http://users.polisci.wisc.edu/LA260/quinceanera.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_sixteen_(birthday) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincea%C3%B1era