A Cultural Experience

John and I are sitting in our cozy Peace Corps apartment unable to hear each other speak.  The music outside is blasting and there are people walking up and down the street.  It is 85 degrees and the dancing goes on.  The occasion: the granddaughter of our neighbor has turned 15 and the party is her traditional quinceñero.  It started with a mass at the church a block and a half away at the end of our street.  She walked in dressed in a floor length pink gown (like Cinderella) followed by an entourage of girls ranging from 5-15 dressed in white dresses adorned in pink.  The older girls were sporting 3-inch platform heels and were doing their best to look comfortable in them.  They were slipped off during the service and disappeared quickly when the fun began.

Procession after the mass

After the mass, Alison’s father walked her out followed by the attendants and preceded to walk several blocks down the middle of the street to the house for the reception and we all followed in procession.  The back yard was set up with plastic tables covered with pink and white tablecloths and we were served some snacks, some soft drinks, and a meal of chicken, rice and white bread.  There was an enormous cake with several columns and several layers and staircases, which collapsed soon after we arrived.  A team of grandmother types came to the rescue and by some miracle restored the cake to some reasonable semblance of its original design. 

Cake before the disaster (the woman in pink is swatting flies away)

Reconstructed cake

After dinner the sweating father and his beautiful daughter danced together and it was clear they had practiced because they looked great!  That was the beginning of the dancing with music blasting out of speakers bigger than me.  I was feeling really hot and in need of our fan.  We went home without eating any cake but still feel like we are part of the celebration as the music blasts through the neighborhood.  It is about 8:30 and I bet we have several more house of this music before quiet reigns again. 

Father daughter dance (look how much he is sweating)

I love this tradition!  A Dominican friend of our invited us to the quinceñero celebrations for both of her nieces in the states and I loved those events too.  It is such a great coming of age recognition.  Our neighbors here are not wealthy and they clearly worked very hard to prepare all the food, serve it and welcome at least 100 friends and relatives to honor their daughter.  Alison was gracious and lovely to all the guests and clearly having fun with her friends. 

Family is so important here.  Tomorrow we are invited to another birthday celebration for a 4-year old nephew of our landlady.  Once again there will be lots of people and a piñata.  Next Tuesday is Nicaragua’s Fathers Day.  We will join in the celebration for our 85-year old neighbor, who is a Yankees fan. His 5 living children, as well as all his grandchildren and great grandchildren will honor him.  I feel so lucky to be experiencing all of this!