Summary
Trinity University modern languages professor Norma Elia Cantú, Ph.D., shared historical insight with ABC 11 into the origins of quinceañeras, a coming-of-age tradition celebrating a girl's 15th birthday in Hispanic culture. Cantú explained how European social customs and Mexican colonial history helped shape a celebration that remains significant to generations of families.
South Texas girls and their families have been celebrating their quinceañeras–15th birthdays–for generations, and Trinity University modern languages professor Norma Elia Cantú, Ph.D., has some insight on how this tradition came to be. Cantú lent a bit of history to a recent ABC 11 TV news story about this rite of passage in the Hispanic community.
“We have all kinds of different traditions that we think it comes from,” Cantú said. “Mostly European court presentations, cotillions, coming out parties. In Mexico, during the colonial period and even up through contemporary times, the age of 15 is when the young woman was considered of age to be married.” Find the entire story here.