Fiesta de Quinceañera

In many English-speaking countries a girl’s 16th birthday is celebrated as a very special occasion and is referred to as “Sweet Sixteen”, but in Latin America it is the 15th birthday that marks a girl’s coming-of-age. In Colombia a girl’s ‘Fiesta de Quinceañera’ (party of one who is fifteen) is considered one of the most important events in a girl’s life, and is celebrated with friends and family.

Recently, one of Globalteer Volunteer Colombia’s partner projects in Medellin hosted a 15th birthday celebration for two of its girls. As this project functions in a similar way to an orphanage, these two girls have lived full-time at the project’s home for many years, and everyone involved with the project – the children, staff members and volunteers – forms a huge family.

All the children who live at the foundation full-time, as well as the various social workers, psychologists, administration staff, volunteers from the community and nearby high schools and universities, friends and supporters of the projects, and Globalteer’s Colombia Kids volunteer coordinator were at the celebration.

The event began with mass in the home’s open air courtyard. After addressing the congregation and explaining to everyone the special significance of the day, the pastor from the nearby church spoke to the girls about how their lives had now changed, explaining that as women they would now have new responsibilities in life. Some of the children restlessly tried their best to sit still as the pastor led everyone in singing several religious hymns, and people then lined up to take communion and the birthday girls retreated upstairs to change.  The courtyard was then quickly rearranged to accommodate a large table and, most importantly, the birthday cake, and plenty of space was made for dancing. 

The focus of attention then shifted to young Marco*, one of the project’s full-time residents, as he was also celebrating his sixth birthday that day. Marco was dressed very elegantly, in a black suit complete with bow tie, white gloves and white shoes. Usually one of the project’s more rambunctious and lively children, Marco didn’t seem to know what to make of all the attention and was surprisingly quiet and shy, but his face beamed with joy when his birthday present was wheeled out. Everyone clapped as he took his new bike for a small test drive around the courtyard.

Next, the two birthday girls descended from their rooms dressed in elegant and colorful ballroom dresses and took their chairs in the middle of the courtyard. Looking like a miniature waiter in a fancy restaurant, Marco approached them carrying a silver tray which held elegant shoes. Like something out of a fairytale, several of the older men knelt down in front of the girls and exchanged the flip-flops on their feet for the elegant jewel-encrusted shoes. 

Before the formal dancing started some of the other boys were seen in another room practising their dance moves with other boys, waltzing around the room in circles. The first dance belonged to Marco, who took the much taller Yanela* by the hand and led her around the room in a carefully-choreographed waltz. 

Then the other birthday girl Christine* joined in with one of the other small boys, and soon all of the project’s boys and various men were taking turns dancing with the two girls. Finally, each of them danced with the director of the project, who has acted as a father figure to many of the children at the project. In these last moments the traditional role of the man leading when dancing was reversed and made the responsibility of the girls. As the director is blind, he allowed himself to be led and guided around the dance floor. It was a very special moment. 

There’s an unspoken tradition in Colombia that every social gathering must include a lot of dancing to reggaeton (a type of popular music that combine reggae rhythms with hip-hop influences), so after the formal dancing, dinner, and cake, everyone retreated to the large dining room where the hired DJ had set up. This is when the real party started. Some of the smaller children ran through the crowd, squealing with delight at being up past their bedtimes and at the sight of their playmates, the project’s social workers and volunteers all dancing to the reggaeton, which blasted out from gigantic speakers. It was a memorable ending to a very special night for everyone.

*The children’s names have been changed to protect their privacy.