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My Cuban Quinceanera
"A daughter’s quinceanera is the main thing the parents have to save for."
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By Gabriela Blain Pineiro
The old Spanish tradition of the quinceanera is THE major rite of passage for many teenage girls growing up in Latin American culture. In socialist Cuba, big, extravagant quinceaneras were held in disdain for years as a pre-Revolutionary bourgeois cultural vestige. But the showy, ostentatious affairs have been making a comeback, driven in part by shifting cultural attitudes and Cuba’s emerging dollar economy. Some cash-strapped families now save for years to lavish their daughters with expensive parties, rented Mercedes-Benzs, and bright, flowing gowns. From Havana, Youth Radio’s International Desk brings us this story by a young Cuban girl who chronicled her experience getting ready to celebrate her own quince earlier this month.
My name is Gabriela Blain Pineiro. I’m 14 years old. I was born here in Havana, and I’ve lived in Cuba all my life.
People here say different things about what it means to have your quinceanera. Some says it means it’s OK for a girl to have sex. Other people just see it as another excuse to have a big party. For me, it’s a little different, like something I know I’ll always look back on. Or a chance for me to think about my childhood, and what I’m going to do next.
I suppose that means I’ll be a woman after that, but I definitely don’t feel like I’m ready yet.
That’s the conga version of Feliz Cumpleanos from my friend Claudia’s quince. It’s not the usual way people sing Happy Birthday here, but Claudia did have a pretty traditional quince. She had fifteen couples dancing the waltz, including her and her father. Everyone says that families spend a lot more money on quinceaneras these days than they used to. I asked my mother if she’s noticed any changes.
MOM (on tape)
Everything costs more, so now parents here have to start saving from the time the girl is born, as if they were saving for her to go to college…because we don’t have those types of expenses here in Cuba, a daughter’s quinceanera is the main thing the parents have to save for.
GABRIELA
More than two hundred people went to Claudia’s quince, and her Dad had to rent two buses just to get everyone from her neighborhood to the party. But when her Dad’s old car broke down on the way to the party, she almost missed her own quince.
CLAUDIA (on tape)
The car broke down in the middle of the tunnel, and I just sat there in my dress trying not to cry, because if I did all my makeup would run. We left right after the bus with the guests, so everyone at the party sat waiting and wondering what happened to us.
GABRIELA
Her parents don’t have a lot of money, so like most Cubans, they got help from their friends. The average salary here in Cuba is only about $10 a month, so even though most parents save for many years, they also get help from relatives abroad if they can. I asked Claudia how she feels now, after she’s had her quince.
CLAUDIA (on tape)
For a whole month all I’d been thinking about was that moment, and suddenly it was over. I don’t feel like a woman yet, but I don’t feel like a girl either, just kind of in the middle. I felt a change, I mean, everyone changes, you start plucking your eyebrows, wearing makeup, dressing differently…sometimes it makes me feel nostalgic, because you also miss your childhood, being the little girl of the house, you just wish you could go back in time.
GABRIELA
I guess I don’t really see the difference between turning 14 and turning 15, except for the tradition itself. The most important thing to me is that I’ll always have something to remember and look back on. That is, when I really am a woman.
- “My Cuban Quinceanera” was produced by Youth Radio's International
Desk, in association with National
Geographic.
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