My Niece's Quinceanera

This is my brother with his beautiful daughter.  (Since her mother doesn't use my niece's name on her blog, I won't either.  We'll just call her "The Birthday Girl.")  I went to Southern California last weekend to attend her Quinceanera, which is a traditional Mexican event to celebrate a young girl's 15th birthday.  There is a religious component, where the family thanks God for bringing their child to this day and asks for his continued guidance as she moves into womanhood:

There can be various other parts of the ceremony, such as the exchanging of flat shoes for the girl's first pair of high heels.  My niece skipped that part but did receive her "last doll" from her Godparents:

The birthday girl will often have a court of young men and women:

And it has become quite popular lately for there to be an elaborate set of dances done by the court.  The kids will practice these for weeks to get them right:

My daughter Clara was excited to get a new dress and to spend time with her cousins (here she is with her cousin, the birthday girl's sister):

I was happy to get my family all dressed up and have our picture taken:

A good time was had by all (here's one of my other brothers dancing with his little girl):

My niece has been looking forward to this day for a long time, and she truly looked liked a Princess and comported herself like a beautiful young woman. 

We were all sooo proud of her!  I didn't have a Quinceanera, and Clara won't have one either.  But I'm happy to see this tradition continue in at least part of my family.  I think it's good to have ceremonies which mark the passage into adulthood and give teenagers an opportunity to think consciously and concretely about the type of adult they want to become.  For those of you with children, do you (or did you) have any plans to do something like this with your own children?