As a part of their celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the Women’s Resource Center and the Tau Gamma chapter of the Sigma Lambda Gamma national sorority sponsored a panel discussion on the tradition of Quinceaneras. The panel was held Wednesday in the Ferguson Center Forum Room.

Panel members Alicia Cipria and Maria-Victoria Perez-Fisher discussed the history behind the Quinceanera, their personal experiences, how they believe these experiences have affected their lives, and if they think having a Quinceanera is the same as becoming a woman in today’s world.

Cipria is an associate professor of Spanish linguistics in the department of modern languages and classics. She celebrated her Quinceanera in Argentina with a modest celebration.

Perez-Fisher is the peer education programs coordinator at the Women’s Resource Center, where she coordinates speakers, organizes outreach programs and directs Unscripted, a peer education theatre troupe. Although she did not have Quinceanera of her own, she was invited to many and was a member of a close friend’s entourage for her celebration.

Traditionally, the Quinceanera is one of the most important events in a young woman’s life in Latin American culture. On a young woman’s fifteenth birthday, she becomes a woman and is presented to society as an adult, according to several Hispanic culture and heritage websites.

“Families saved for two things: the Quinceanera and the wedding,” Perez-Fisher said.

Rather than being a Latin version of debutante balls or coming-out parties, the traditional Quinceanera celebration is a time of affirming faith, family traditions, good morals and the young woman’s preparedness to take on adult roles within her family, as well as recognition of sexual maturity. Perez-Fisher said she disagrees with this concept, viewing traditional Quinceaneras almost as permission for child-marriage.

In Latin culture, the grandmother is the backbone of the family’s religious life, and, traditionally, the Quinceanera is seen as the beginning of a girl’s journey to becoming that figure in the family. Her Quinceanera was seen as a girl’s marriage to the Church, Perez-Fisher said. However, the celebrations vary from country to country and from family to family, with some families putting more emphasis on the religious aspect of the celebration and some giving more consideration to the party.

However, today’s Quinceaneras are becoming increasingly similar to sweet sixteen parties and are taking on the role of a party instead of a culturally significant celebration of the transition into womanhood. Cipria doubts that attendees to today’s Quinceaneras would dress as formally as they used to.

“It was a social event,” Cipria said, refuting the idea that having a Quinceanera is an important step in the process of becoming a woman.

“I think maybe when the tradition was started, it [the Quinceanera] was important, but not today, not at all today,” Perez-Fisher said. For Cipria, one of the most important parts of her Quinceanera was dancing with a male relative.

Preparation for these events is comparable to planning a wedding, the panel decided. Planning begins months in advance: reserving locations, finding DJs and photographers, picking color schemes and even choosing themes, occasionally.

“Getting the dress and going to the seamstress to get it fitted, choosing what kind of pictures I wanted to take, the colors I wanted to have, and the disc jockey, of course, … the invitations and the hair [style] [were important aspects of the event for me],” Cipria said.