A GIRL'S 'SACRED' COMING-OF-AGE.

Byline: Leonel Martinez The Bakersfield Californian

In every culture, there are rites of passage, sacred rituals used to mark the crucial transition from adolescence to adulthood.

In Mexico and often in California, the coming of age of a 15-year-old girl is celebrated in church and called a quinceanera, from the Spanish-language word for 15 years.

"The quinceanera is very sacred and very important," said Cornelio Rodriguez, director of the Chicano Cultural Center at Bakersfield College. "It's really the coming out of the young lady, presenting her to society, to the 'familia.' We hope the best and God's blessing."

When Mexican immigrants came to the United States, they brought the ritual with them, in some instances modifying it to fit the realities of their new country.

The 15-year-old chooses godparents who act as spiritual role models and often lend financial support. The quinceanera celebration usually starts with a Roman Catholic Mass in which the girl, female friends and family members march into church in a procession.

It is here that she solemnizes her responsibility to her church, her family and her community.

Sometimes male escorts accompany the girls, but that's not a mandatory part of the ceremony, Rodriguez said. In fact, variations exist even in Mexico where the ritual originated centuries ago.

Historians have traced its roots to the indigenous faiths of pre-Columbian Mexico where an ancient Mayan ceremony of adulthood signified a young man was eligible to be a warrior and a young woman could bear children.

When the Spanish conquered Mexico, they overlaid their own religious beliefs, steeping the ceremony in the theology and symbols of Roman Catholicism.

The quinceanera became popular in Mexico's 16th and 17th colonial era as a means of announcing that a young woman was old enough to marry.

Girls wear white to signify purity. Rings and crowns symbolize eternal life.

Many cultures have such rites of passage into adulthood, according to Stafford Betty, a professor of religious studies at California State University, Bakersfield.

"We see it in the East and we see it in the West," Betty said.

"The closest thing in Christianity would be the confirmation," she added. "In Judaism, there's the bar mitzvah and the bat mitzvah. In Hinduism, there is the sacred-thread ceremony for young boys anywhere from 13 to about 19 these days. It's a rite of passage."

In the Mexican version, family and friends may gather after the Mass to celebrate with a meal, music and dancing. But the emphasis is on the spiritual maturation of the 15-year-old. In that, the quinceanera shares similarities with other rites of passage in various parts of the world.

"It's moving from childhood to adulthood in the religion in question," Betty said.

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Photo (1) Valerie Martinez, 15, leaves the church past rows of attendants after her quinceanera, or coming-of-age rite, in Bakersfield. (2) Valerie Martinez, leaving adolescence behind, hugs a friend. Associated Press