Learn something new

I try to look up something or learn something new every day. For instance, if I'm reading an online news story, and there's a term used or an area talked about that I've never heard of, I hit my favorite search engine and look it up so I can understand what I'm reading about. Every once in a while I find something that I enjoyed learning about so much that I decide it would make a great blog topic, like this one!

Today I was reading a news article online that mentioned a Quinceanera. First, I had no clue as to how to even pronounce Quinceanera, so if it's a new word to you, here is how you pronounce it: keen-say-ah-NYAIR-ah. According to Wikipedia

a Quinceanera is: , in some Spanish-speaking regions of the Americas, a young woman's celebration of her fifteenth birthday which is commemorated in a unique and different way from her other birthdays. It is sometimes represented XV Años, meaning "15 years." Only a few countries call the actual party "quinceañera."

Besides referring to the actual festivities, the word is also used to refer to the young woman whose 15th birthday is being celebrated (analogous to the word cumpleañera for "birthday girl"). The closest equivalents to the quinceañera in the English-speaking world are the sweet sixteen, Bar or Bat Mitzvah for Jewish children turning 13, cotillion, or, in more affluent communities, the debutante ball for those who turn 18.

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I thought it sounded very interesting so I did a little more "research" into Quinceanera's and found out that they can sometimes be very elaborate celebrations that include beautiful decorations, traditional foods, a Quinceanera doll which serves as a symbol that a quinceanera is no longer a child but a young woman. It serves as a symbol of maturity and it represents the last doll the young woman will recieve. Often the young woman will wear a very fancy dress/gown as well as a tiara.

Everything about a Quinceanera is filled with tradition and it's a very special time in the young girls life, it is when she is "officially" seen as a young woman for the first time in her family's eyes. And the Quinceanera invitations are just and beautiful and elegant as all the other factors of the Quinceanera celebration.

So, I learned something new today and I actually found all of the traditions aabout Quinceanera's to be very fascinating! But I'm also a very traditional type person myself, so I guess that would make sense!