Cumplirse 15: To Turn 15

Here is another article I wrote for the NPH website:

The Sweet 15

The setting is a crisp November afternoon in the roaming mountains outside of Tegucigalpa, the date November 16th. As the afternoon sun filters lazily through the clusters of pine, Rancho Santa Fe is abuzz with the hum of children flitting to and fro eagerly chattering about the only thing any reasonable child around the age of 15 can think of, the magical Quinceañera. Once a year here at Rancho Sante Fe, NPH Honduras, we celebrate any and all children who have turned or will turn 15 during the year. The Quinceañera is a quintessential part of Latin American culture and the culture here on the Ranch. Once a year we pull out all the stops to celebrate the wonderful transition as our children begin to grow into their young adult hood. Once a year life comes to a halt and our worries are whisked away in a flurry of music, laughter, good food, and excellent company.

Proud padrinos and madrinas stood alongside fine dressed quinceañeros in their handmade yellow shirts, black pants and shoes, all eyes turned and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the elegent young woman who had spent all day preparing for their special night. Having taken less time to ready themselves the quinceañeros were lined up and ready to process into the Church when the young women arrived. Easily spotted in their elegant, hand made, bright green gowns, the wide smiled, carefully prepared, giddy quinceañeras finally made their appearance and lined up to go into the Church. Quinceañeros alongside padrinos and madrinas glided into the church beginning the moment they had all been waiting for.

Following a highly ceremonious mass with a special blessing for the quinceañeros, padrinos, madrinas, and cumpleañeros were loaded onto a bus to be carried down to the school where an especially elegant dinner awaited them. Feasting on salad, specially prepared rice, tortillas, and the rare delicacy of meat, saw a gaggle of finely dressed teenagers and visitors happily sharing in the joy of this special evening. As the night wore on, the special cumpleañeros were toasted, cheered, congratulated, and processed for their official pictured, all finally completed by the traditional grand waltz. Nervous quinceañeros, alongside their even more nervous madrinos and padrinos, danced their unrehearsed grand waltz to the great pleasure of the rest of the ranch family whom had arrived to watch the beginning of what would be the rest of the evening’s agenda, dancing.

Until about midnight, the order of the evening was overall revelry and unhindered frivolity. As young and old danced alike, we concluded the special celebration of our dear, cherished cumpleañeros. It was a night made magnificent by hundreds of hands, from the ones that stitched the dresses and flower embroidered gloves, to the hands that meticulously crafted the shoes, hands that set the decadent hair styles, the hands that artfully decorated the hall, cooked the food, and certainly not least, the nervous, clasped hands of our lovely quinceañeros as they danced their birthday waltz on what we can only hope was one of their most memorable, magical childhood evenings.

 

Posted with Blogsy