Skipping Church: Can You Hold A Quinceañera Without A Misa?

by: Michael Kabel

What's a Quinceañera without the Misa de Acción de Gracias? For a growing number of young Latina girls, it's still a Quinceañera.

Partly due to the rising costs involved in staging a festive Quince, many families are choosing to forego the traditional Thanksgiving Mass and concentrate their resources on the fiesta celebration instead. Still, the tradition of the Mass carries its own weight. Especially in more traditional families, many Quince anos girls wonder whether or not to go ahead with the mass if only for the sake of keeping up appearances.

It's a tough, personal decision.

Changing times mean changing lifestyles

The Misa was a part of the Quinceañera celebration for centuries, but times and perspectives change. Particularly in the United States, where many modern Hispanic families are not even practicing Catholics, attending a church service can seem like a relic of times past.

For Quince girls raised in a faith besides the Catholic Church, the burden of finding and coordinating a prayer service along the lines of a traditional Thanksgiving Mass adds responsibilites to the already-hectic preparation. Some find it simpler just to pray with their family and friends, either before or during the fiesta.

Including others in the decision.

Of course, even for Catholic Latina girls, the decision may be taken out of their hands, as padrinos and other sources of support may insist the Mass be included in the Quinceañera events. For older generations used to a more rigid interpretaton of traditions, the question is practically a non-starter. If the Quinceañera is a cornerstone of Latino tradition, and the Mass a vital part of the Quinceañera, the Mass becomes an important part of celebrating their very cultural identity.

Still, the whole meaning of a quince is to celebrate the young woman's new maturity, so the decision whether or not to have or attend a Misa is rightly hers, if only out of fairness. If there's room for compromise, quince girls and her padrinos alike are probably wise to work something out, for the sake of the event itself.

Reaching a wise decision and acting upon it.

Ultimately, it's the quince girl's choice whether or not to include the misa, and her padrinos and family members should undrstand her choice. This doesn't mean the quince girl can't work out a compromise. Finding a solution that's amenable to both sides of the debate - for example, attending a group mass for all local Quinceañera girls a different week than the fiesta - gives everyone what they want.

Other alternatives for non-Catholic quince anos girls

For Latina girls pursuing a different faith than the Catholic Church, there are other alternatives besides the solutions mentioned above. If their congregation is largely Latino, their minister may already have services or prayers ready for the Quinceañera occasion.

If not, the quince girl can invite her minister to research the Quinceañera tradition and explain it to the congregation during regular services, and ask that they pray for the girl's new life and new maturity. Finally, the quince girl may wish to hold a separate, private prayer service with family and friends at her home before the fiesta begins, including many of the traditional Misa accessories (kneeling pillows, bibles, the tiara) within the service.