1. Carmen Lomas Garza
La familia

2. Carmen Lomas Garza grew up with her family in a Mexican American community in Kingsville, Texas. She wanted to be an artist from the time she was thirteen, when she started drawing every day.

3. Garza experienced racial prejudice as a Mexican American, but the Chicano movement in the 60’s and 70’s inspired her to love her heritage.

4. When Garza reached college, she began to use her art to celebrate her heritage and share her memories of a Mexican American childhood. Her paintings and picture books focus on her childhood and her community's everyday life and celebrations.

5. Carmen Lomas Garza has exhibited her paintings and papel picado art in galleries and museums throughout the United States and internationally. She lives in San Francisco.

6. Let’s hear from Carmen Lomas Garza…

7. How are the following paintings similar and different from your family celebrations and/or traditions?

8. Empanadas

9. Tamalada

10. Cumpleaños de Lala y Tudi

11. Baile

12. Sandia

13. Barbacoa para Cumpleaños

14. Cakewalk

15. La Feria en Reynosa

16. How are these paintings similar and different from your family celebrations and/or traditions?

17. La familia de Carmen Lomas Garza
Mi familia

18. Quinceañera

19. The Quinceañera Tradition15
A Quinceañera is the Hispanic tradition of celebrating a young girl's coming of age - her 15th birthday.

20. The Quinceañera celebration traditionally begins with a religious ceremony. A reception is held in the home or a banquet hall. The festivities include food and music, and in most, a choreographed waltz or dance performed by the Quinceañera and her Honor Court.

21. It is traditional for the Quinceañera to choose special friends to participate in what is called the Honor Court. Usually, these young people are her closest friends, her siblings, cousins - the special people in her life with whom she wants to share the spotlight. The Quinceañera's Honor Court can be comprised of all young girls (called Damas), all young men (called Chambelanes) or a combination of both boys and girls.

25. Bible or prayer book and rosary
It is customary for the Quinceañera to receive some or all of the following items for her ceremony:
Tiara
Cross or medal
Bible or prayer book and rosary
Scepter

26. Tiara
Denotes a "princess" before God and the world; a triumph over childhood and ability to face the challenges ahead.

27. Cross/ Bible
Signifies faith - in God, in herself, and in her world.

28. Scepter
Symbolizes authority, and more importantly, responsibility for her life, that is now being given to the young woman.

29. Doll
The doll represents leaving childhood things behind. The Quinceañera typically passes on her “Last Doll” to a younger sibling or family member.

30. High Heels
The father or favored male relative ceremoniously changes the young girl's flat shoes to high heels. This is a beautiful symbol of the Quinceañera's transformation from a little girl to a young lady.