Quinciñera!

I feel the need to go back and write about the Quinciñera from last week. Quinciñeras are a celebration of 15^th birthdays, which I bet everyone remembers from 9^th grade Spanish when I’m pretty sure everyone in the U.S. watched the same video about a girl’s Quinciñera party.

This was one of the most interesting cultural experiences I’ve seen yet. Laura (previously mentioned favorite translator and daughter of Phil and Donna, who started MUR) was on the “court,” which is basically like being a bridesmaid. You buy the dress the birthday girl picks, you walk down an isle with an escort, then they do a cotillion-esque dance with everyone watching. I told her she’s in training to take over my job as professional bridesmaid one day. Starting her early!

Maybe my favorite part of the quinciñera was the rehearsal. Now that I have a car here (pause for celebration!!! Car!!!), I’m able to run errands and be more independent/helpful. Therefore, I was happy to drive Laura to the rehearsal. She was NOT excited, but I was SUPER excited, mainly because I was going to watch her learn the dance. (Sounds mean, but that’s what big sisters are for, and I have adopted her as little sister. DON’T WORRY, GRACE, YOU HAVEN’T BEEN REPLACED.) I’m rambling. Blah blah blah, went to VCOM dinner before rehearsal, blah blah blah, talked two of the medical students and one of the translators into coming with us! It helped Laura feel more comfortable, and was definitely a fun cultural experience for them to see. One of them lived in Santa Rosa for a couple of months a while back and speaks much better Spanish than I do, and the other picked up on a LOT of Spanish that week. During the rehearsal, he ended up having many discussions with the Honduran ladies that were planning and setting up, offering advice about which color of tablecloths or decorations should go where. Slightly embarrassing, but extremely hilarious.

David, medical student, discussing the decorations with Rosa and another lady.

For Skarleth’s quince, there was a mass (that we didn’t attend. Had something we had to do at that time), then everyone goes over for the reception where all of the court precedes her in walking down the isle and being presented. Lawson and Jordan Stacy were also on the court, along with other children. Each pair of niños carried an item down the isle that was presented to her when her turn came. There was a pair of high heels (since she’s a woman now), jewelry (same thing), and a doll (the last doll she’ll ever be given). Overall, Laura looked too cute, she did great during the dance, we ate some delicious food, and I got to check another cultural experience off my Honduran bucket list.

 Skarleth, birthday girl, is the one in the purple. The "court" is dancing around her.

Look at cute Laura!

They had dolls sitting on all of the tables... If you know me you know how I feel about dolls (and clowns, for that matter). Every time I turned around Jordan had this doll turned to look at me. Yikes. 

Laura and her escort, Falker.