Different cultures have different traditions when it comes to entering womanhood. Most American women celebrate a sweet 16, whilst for Hispanic this would be a quinceañera. One of the main differences between a sweet 16 and a quinceañera would be the age celebrated; one is 16 and the other is 15. Although they both introduce teenage girls into womanhood, they are very different when it comes to the actual celebration. To some it’s more of a party with friends, to others it has a more traditional meaning. 

“My friend and I chose to have a sweet 16 because we have a ton of mutual friends so we thought it would be fun to get everyone together to celebrate,” says senior Kira Feeser. 

Hispanic cultures have more importance when it comes to womanhood; religion and family value are big factors of a quinceañera. “Religion played a huge role in my quinceañera; it was a contributing choice between my parents and I. I also wanted to celebrate it in Mexico since most of my family resides there,” said junior Lizbeth Morales. 

Both occasions take a lot of time to plan. The location, the day, the time, and the budget are all important decisions to make. “We planned for about three months. I had my sweet 16 at a fire hall in Mechanicsburg. It was hard to find a place that we fit all of our friends in without being too expensive,” says Feeser. 

For some it may be as simple as just having it in another city; others may struggle with location. 

In Morales’s case, she had to fly all the way to Mexico. “I have been planning this quinceañera for about a year in Michoacán, Mexico. I was worried a bit about my dress because I had to send it through mail to get it over to Mexico,” says Morales. 

Both celebrations are a time to celebrate a girl’s maturity and reaching womanhood. Guests lists are often large. “We had both family and friends come. We used all the typical dance/party songs and we had a DJ that did the requests,” says Feeser. 

Music and dancing is an important part of both celebrations. For Morales, like many Hispanics, there was a court at her quinceañera. It’s a way to include your friends, as well as including your religion. “I had a court to dance alongside me. One thing that did make my quinceañera different from others was that we included a special dance to our family, The Virgin Mary Dance,” Morales said.