A Fifteen-Year-Old's Dream

It is a custom here in Brazil for a girl to have a big formal celebration for her 15th birthday. This custom (from what I understand) originated from the European tradition of a girl have a "coming out" party to introduce her into society as a candidate for marriage. This is no longer the purpose of the party, but the tradition continues. Of course not everyone of this age has such a party, and some are much more elaborate than others.

For those families who are involved in church, many times the ceremony becomes part of a church service or involves a time of preaching, much like giving a charge to a couple at a wedding ceremony. This weekend Jeremy was invited to be the speaker at one of these birthday celebrations, so we were able to go and participate. 

 The ceremony resembled a wedding in many ways. In fact, the girl was mistakenly referred to as the bride more than once! She wore a formal gown, and had nine friends who wore matching formal dresses and walked in before her. They also had escorts dressed in tuxedos. The church was decorated with flowers, all color-coordinating with the dresses. Her parents each said something about her, and they presented her with a Bible and a piece of jewelry. 

 After this ceremony there was a reception with appetizers, a dinner, desserts and cake, just like a wedding reception. {This was definitely on the more elaborate end of the party spectrum!}  As is customary for parties in Brazil, the dinner wasn't served until about 10:00 pm. We stayed as long as we could, until the boys were literally sleeping at the table. We didn't hold out for the cutting of the cake which we heard happened around 12:30 am. 

It was an interesting experience, but made me glad that I don't have a daughter who would expect something like this!