Running head: HOW TO PLAN A QUINCENERA? 1

How to plan a Quincenera?

630: Adult Learning

Texas A&M University

Jessica Saenz

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A Quincenera is one of the most important celebrations and traditions in the Mexican

culture. This tradition constitutes a ceremony on a girl’s fifteenth birthday to mark her passage to

womanhood, to give thanks to God for his blessings, and to present a young woman to the com-

munity. The term quincenera is a Spanish word for a girl who is fifteen years old. The term

quincenera can refer to the celebration itself or to the birthday girl. This celebration is very simi-

lar to a “Sweet Sixteen”. From an Anglo perspective, this celebration would be seen as a combi-

nation of a “Sweet Sixteen” birthday party combined with a coming out ball for debutantes. In

the Mexican community, this celebration serves not only to honor the young woman for her ma-

turity but also to honor her family. The young lady’s godparents and parents play an essential

role in this celebration. There are many societies and cultures that have rituals signifying a pas-

sage to adulthood for both women and men, but the quincenera is definitely unique. In former

times, this celebration indicated that the young lady was of marriageable age and status. This is

obviously not socially acceptable nor to be looked upon in these current times or let’s just say it

is not as common now. The legal age now is eighteen years old. Today, the tradition has taken on

other meanings for this reason. The overall essence of the tradition still remains the same; it is

still a celebration of womanhood, family, and community.

The quincenera celebration begins with a Mass ceremony to give thanks for a completed

childhood. Throughout the mass, the young lady is seated at the foot of the church altar resplen-

dent in an elaborate pink or white formal dress. The godparents bestow her with particular gifts

that symbolize a variety of things. Traditionally the quincenera, has maid of honors and escorts.

It is up to her to choose how many. However, nowadays it is an optional for the young lady to

have them in her celebration. The mass combines a solemn ceremony similar to baptism which

welcomes the birthday girl to her new life and challenges ahead as an adult. The birthday girl,

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also known as the quincenera, usually has to attend religious classes in order to participate in this

mass. After the mass has concluded, the young woman leaves a bouquet of flowers to a particular

religious Catholic figure at the church. After mass, the party begins! The party is a big affair, it

typically lasts about seven hours. There is dinner, a father-daughter dance, daughter-godfather

dance, cake, live music, and there are choreographies presented by her escorts and maid of hon-

ors as well. There is also a dance the birthday girl performs with her favorite baby doll. This spe-

cial performance symbolizes how she is letting go of her childhood. This celebration is truly a

wonderful experience. This is also an occasion where the parents impart a special message, trans-

ferring wisdom and life-experience to their daughter. The origin of this tradition roots back to the

history of the Mexican people. This tradition combines both Spanish-Catholic traditions with a

rich Aztec indigenous heritage. The ancient Aztecs also had a similar ceremony to mark the pas-

sage of a young woman through stages of her life. It is a very similar tradition. Overall, this is a

meaningful and beautiful occasion that is anticipated with much happiness by everyone involved.

Fortunately, people of Mexican decent have preserved this tradition here in the United States.

Planning a quincenera is one tough deal. It is almost planned just like a wedding. Plan-

ning for a quincenera can start as early as year or two in advanced. This just depends on how big

you would like your celebration to be. A quincenera can be as lavish as inviting five hundred or

more people or to only inviting your intimate family. There are many details in preparing this

party. Dances have to be learned, decorations need to be decided upon, cake needs to be ordered,

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and in some cases dresses need to be made. As I had mentioned, this just depends on how much

you are willing to invest and how much time you have to prepare this event. There is no right or

wrong way of planning this celebration.

Now, you may be asking yourself where I am going with this? Well I am going to plan a

quincenera. My little cousin had not planned to have a quincenera due to financial limitations.

About a month ago, my cousin’s godmother contacted me and asked if I could plan this event for

her. She contacted me in particular because she knew I enjoy getting involved in family events.

Another reason why, was because my spring semester of graduate school had ended and I was

going back home for a mini vacation. She contacted me the last week of May. I was very fortu-

nate to take part in this event as the “party planner” and to also share my learning experiences in

this course. I thought really hard on the topic I wanted to choose for this assignment, but I came

to the conclusion that this would be the best fit. Why? Because I have never planned a

quincenera, especially not all by myself. I chose this as my learning experience for this class be-

cause I hope to plan one for my own daughter when she turns fifteen one day. I currently do not

have children, but I hope to start a family very soon. I personally did not have one because my

family was not financially stable at the time. Instead, I was given a trip to Europe. This is the rea-

son why this is a new learning experience for me. It is a huge commitment on my part and due

to the limited amount of time; every day counted in regards to planning this event. I had exactly

one month to prepare an intimate family quincenera celebration. The date chosen for this event

was June 27, 2014. We invited about sixty family members as guests and about fifty of my

cousin’s closest friends.

In order to organize this event; I had to learn the basics of planning a party. I only had a

couple of days to do so. My first week was dedicated to making a checklist for the event. I

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learned how to create a checklist, to create a timeline for the event, to manage the vendors and

the budget, and I learned overall that there is much more to a party than one thinks. I learned

most of these things from doing some research on the web and by asking experts in the field.

One of the most frustrating things in this process, was learning how to mange my time, because I

was literally running against time. I only had thirty-two days to plan this event. As I had previ-

ously mentioned, it usually takes about a year to plan such an extravagant event. The one thing

that helped me out the most was the size of the party, because it was going to be a smaller cele-

bration I did not have to worry that much. Once I had my checklist and planner set, I got ready

to start making some phone calls. I first organized my calendar and set dates for myself and for

the vendors in order to keep track of everything. In the back of my head I knew that I had to pen-

cil in the dates, because there could be a possibility that the dates could change. I knew I had to

be mentally prepared that changes could occur and that things may not come out exactly how I

pictured them to be. I had to figure out how many vendors and which vendors I was going to

need for this event. I had to conduct research on the various vendors to check their availability

and budget. Due to the short notice I ran a great risk that most places were already going to be

booked.

Luckily, on the first and second week of June I was able to contract the following ven-

dors: Elisa Gonzelez Photography, Marriott Hotel at the Galleria, Francie Décor, GG’s DJ, and

Fannin Flower Shop. I made a couple of phone calls here and there and lets just say that I had a

lot of luck on my side. In the first two weeks, I had to be extra productive. Each day was

dedicated to a certain vendor and items needed for that particular section of the event.

Even though I had set a contract which each vendor by this point, I still had to keep in touch with

them. I learned that the event space where the celebration was going to take place had to approve

the vendors that were being contracted by me. This is something I did not know about, I kind of

found out through trial and error. Throughout this process, many of my learning experiences

were by trial and error. I learned from the vendors and their experiences as well. The vendors

were my guides. I was able to contact them if I had any questions or concerns about any part of

this process. They have way much more experience in this business.

Once I had the contracted the vendors, I had to take my little cousin to the various ap-

pointments she had with them. We had to check and see if everything was in order. We had to

meet with the photographer and set a date when she would take her pictures. The pictures were to

be exhibited at the party. Once we set a date with the photographer we had to look for a person to

do her makeup and hair for her picture day and for the actual day of the event. Once again, I had

to make a couple of phone calls until I found someone available. The main picture was taken on

the third week of June. After the photographer and makeup was set and booked, we then had to

focus on the flower arrangements and decorations. Once again, we made an appointment and

picked out what we wanted for her special day. The good thing is that the hotel where the event

was going to take place, covered dinner, so I did not have to worry about that part. I just had to

make sure that guests reserved their spot as soon as possible. This was probably the biggest

headache. You would think this would be a piece of cake, but it wasn’t. Due to it being a small

party we had reserved spots. So there was basically a limited number of plates for each guest.

This is why it was important for the guest to reserve their spot so we could have a head count.

Fortunately, we had enough plates on the day of the event. Another one of the most important

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vendors was the Entertainment DJ. I had to handpick a variety of songs for the DJ to play on the

day of the event. This was very time consuming, and I focused on this until the last minute. I

spent the last couple of days picking songs. I also had to prepare a “Party Schedule” for the DJ to

have in handy in case he forgot any little detail. The “Party Schedule” was a reference for the ex-

act times and activities that were going to take place. (See Appendix A) It focused on every little

detail. My free time for the month of June consisted of creating table centerpieces and the candy

souvenirs for the event. I also forgot to mention that the invitations were handmade by me. We

did not use a vendor for this item. I created the invitation and mailed them to each guest person-

ally. The cake was sponsored by another family member who attended the event as well.

On the actual day of the event, everything turned out great. Yes, of course I had to make

some modifications here and there but it turned out spectacular overall. (See Appendix B, C, and

D) At one point in this process, I felt like giving up due to all of the stress and tension it was giv-

ing me. I am glad I didn’t give up. I knew I had commitment to this event and I had to finish it. It

was way more than I expected. My phone literally rang thirty times a day. I had a ton of sticky-

notes and reminders on my smart phone to keep me on track. I had reminders on my phone in ad-

dition to my daily planner. I enjoyed the event and all of the stress was worth it. It was worth

seeing all of the happiness and joy this event brought to my family. I couldn’t have picked a bet-

ter experience to talk about for this assignment. Throughout this process, I learned so much

about my family and myself. I will admit that I can see myself planning another party soon.

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In reference to my learning process and experience, I can say I am a self-directed learner.

I believe I have been one for quite some time now. As mentioned in the text, “Learning is a per-

sonal process-but a process that is shaped by the context of an adult life and the society which

one lives.” (Merriam, 2007) I do support this perspective. I believe I learn through a lens that

has been shaped through my past experiences and teachings. My environment, society, class, bi-

ological make-up, family, technology, experiences, etc have molded me into the individual I am

today. I would also like to note how Learning in Adulthood, mentions that the configuration of a

learner, the context and some aspects of the learning process differentiates learning in childhood

from adulthood. The term configuration stood out to me from the readings. We are all configured

it variety of ways. Learning in adulthood is embedded in its context; there is not a correct set of

principles that hold the “true” answer to how a wide-range of diverse learners learn. The configu-

ration of an adult is different in the following areas: as a learner, in the context, and in the

process together. The following are some characteristics of adult learning: learner-centered, so-

cial learning, active learning (life-centered), and acquiring knowledge and competence.

The theories that I reflected upon and related to the most were those of Knowles assump-

tions (1980), Kidd’s understanding of experience (1973), and MacKeracher’s reflections on mo-

tives (1996). Throughout the readings I kept reflecting back to Knowles assumptions, I felt very

strongly about these set of principles and how they could be used in a practice setting. I enjoyed

reading about Kidd’s thoughts on how, “adults have more experiences, adults have different

kinds of experiences, and their experiences are organized differently.” (Merriam, 2007) Even

though experience, is an assumption, I still think it is meaningful in the process of learning.

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For example, if I only had more experience in the “party planning” business, I could have

produced a better event. Due to the lack of experience and knowledge, I probably was not able to

produce the best of my ability. Much of my knowledge and ideas in planning this event came

from my experiences attending these type of celebrations in the past. I learned through observing

and recollecting thoughts on my past experiences. I could also tie this thought into my experi-

ence in a classroom setting. For example, I do not have as much experience as my peers have due

to pursing my Masters degree right after my Bachelors. I do not have much professional experi-

ence in the field of Human Resources. This is why it is a bit harder for me to relate or provide

examples in class. Most of my examples come from different experiences and settings.

Overall, just being an adult is a crucial factor in distinguishing learning in adulthood from

learning in childhood. An adult’s accumulation of experience, the nature of the experience, de-

velopmental components, how ageing affects our memory and how learning is affected by our

normal neurological changes are all factors in differentiating a child from an adult. Setting learn-

ing and theories aside, adults are different. We mature, grow, and develop differently than chil-

dren do. Adults have many more responsibilities and full-time roles in addition to learning.

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References:

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in adulthood: a com-

prehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Running head: HOW TO PLAN A QUINCENERA? 10

Appendixes

Appendix A

Appendix B

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Appendix C

Appendix D