Elva dödade på 15-årskalas i Mexiko

Quinceañera (Spanish pronunciation: [kinθeaˈɲeɾa]; feminine form of "fifteen-year-old"), also called fiesta de quince años, fiesta de quinceañera, quince años, quinceañero or simply quince, is a celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday in parts of Latin America and elsewhere in communities of people from Latin America. This birthday is celebrated differently from any other as it marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood. Latin myths and tradition tell about how girls were prepared to be married by the age of fifteen or become nuns. In the years prior to their fifteenth birthdays, girls were taught to cook, weave, and about child bearing by the elder women in their communities in preparation for their expected lives as married women. The celebrations today vary significantly across countries; celebrations in some countries, for example, have taken on more religious overtones than in others. In Brazil, a Portuguese-speaking country, the same celebration is called festa de debutantes, baile de debutantes or festa de quinze anos. In the French Caribbean and French Guiana, it is called fête des quinze ans. The grandest parties are comparable to the debutante balls formerly common among the upper-class in the United Kingdom and the United States. The quinceañera is celebrated according to their national traditions by many Latino communities in the United States.