Quinceañera Celebrations

Quinceañera: It is the celebration of the fifteenth birthday of a young woman, which marks her passage from childhood to adulthood. Many Catholic families request a Mass or a Blessing for their daughter.
History of the Celebration: Since the beginning of time, people from all cultures have celebrated the coming of age of their children. The origin of the quinceañera is linked to the ancient rites of passage of the Aztecs, around 500 B.C.E. With the Spanish conquest, the tradition became Christianized and the quinceañera became a rite of social initiation intended to teach and reinforce important christian values.
In our days is a celebration of thanksgiving for the life of a young woman.  Her parents, relatives, and friends ask God to pour out His blessings and protection on her as she becomes a young woman. The celebration as such is not a sacrament.  In our parish is a religious ceremony/blessing presided by a priest or a deacon. The religious ceremony is usually followed by a joyful party that brings together family and friends.
Preparation: The requirements for preparation might vary from parish to parish, but for the most part the girl is required to be baptized, have received her first communion and if necessary, be enrolled for her confirmation classes and to the extent possible participate with her family in the life of faith of their parish. Some important steps of this process:

• Appointment for information and fill out forms: a first step to make a Quinceañera in the Parish is to call the office to set up an appointment with Mr. Jose Juan Valdez (associate director of Family Life) in which we talk about some preliminary aspects regarding the preparation process and the Quinceañera information form is filled.
• Informative Class for Quinceañera and Parents: A second step is a class that we offer every two or three months, depending on the need we offer a class one day in the evening (usually at 7:00 pm.) In which we present in detail different aspects of the celebration of a quinceañera (Historical, Social, Cultural, and Religious).
• Kerygma Evangelization Course and/or Online Quinceañera Course:  A third step in preparation is to take either the Kerigma Course (Paulus Media) and comment as a family on each of the videos in the Book. Or take the CatholicQuinceprep Course (Agape Catholic Ministries) and bring the certificate that they will provide at the end of the course.

• The Rehearsal: A few days before (1-3) the blessing ceremony a rehearsal is held to review the procession and the steps of the Religious Ceremony or Rite of Blessing, usually in the afternoon from 5:30 – 6:00 pm.
• Music for the Ceremony: For the music of the religious ceremony please contact: Ken Morrison 
• The Celebration: We ask that you be at least 15–30 minutes before the ceremony to assign the places in the procession, place them in the Church and start on time. At the end of this, there will be about 20-30 minutes to take photos and / or video.