In February, Rudi and Emily were able to go together to the birthday party of one of the Tias daughters. It was her 15th which is a BIG deal in Latin America. A lot of people spend as much or more than a wedding on the 15th birthday party bash... Tia Anita is a Christian and so this birthday party did not have drinking, nor dancing like most. I think it was a pretty tame 15th birthday party, which is good, because I don't think they would have lasted at a totally traditional party! As it was, they were the first to leave at 11p.m. . Those of you that know Rudi, know that to him 11p.m. is like 2 a.m.!
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| All dressed up with somewhere to go!! |
I thought that they looked great all dressed up. I love it when Rudi wears a suit jacket! While I was taking pictures of them, Ruth and Paula just had to be in the picture too! You can see that they left for the party around bedtime for our kids...
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| With the picture hijackers, Ruth and Paula!! |
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| The Beautiful Birthday Cake! |
Two other volunteers with CDA made it for the big occasion. I know you have heard of Danyelle and Hannah before. Two of our favorite long time volunteers!!
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| Danyelle, Hannah, and Emily |
First, young girls come in, like at a wedding, with candles.
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| Young Girls with candles |
Then, the Quinceñera is brought in by her father. She walks past each of the girls, making a wish and blowing out each candle that the girls were holding.
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| Quinceñera Hermosa |
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| That is confetti on her head and money pinned to her dress! |
Another tradition during the evening is that the guests bring money and pin the money to the birthday girl. They then put confetti on each others heads. Confetti is a big deal in Bolivia. It is not uncommon to see people leaving parties with it all over their heads and clothes!
They served a lovely dinner at 10 p.m. and had a minister share a short message. They asked Rudi to pray, which really put him on the spot, but he did a great job according to Emily!! All in all they had a good time! It sounded like another great cultural "first" experience, like so many others we have had while in Bolivia!!
I love this. Looks like they had a great time. We went to one when we first arrived for our neighbor and we were blown away, we had no idea its treated as big or even moreso than a wedding! We left at 2 am! and we were some of the first to leave believe it or not! I think they are cutting the cake at 5 am, dinner was served around 11pm I think... definitely a memorable experience.
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