Kinaalda and Quinceanera the Kinaalda

Kinaalda and Quinceanera

The Kinaalda is a Navajo initiation ceremony in which a young woman, when she has her first menstruation, is ceremonially brought into the social life of the tribe and the community because she has reached puberty. The word translates "puberty ceremony," but the word also refers to the girl experiencing it, as well as the ceremony itself. (Amrani, p. 1)

The Kinaalda reinforces a Navajo's culture and society and is a symbol of self-identity and world-view. During the ceremony, natural subjects are chosen from the environment and food stores to reinforce the Navajo view of how a girl changes into a woman and what her role is in life. Music is utilized by the entire tribe, and songs are sung inside the hogan, outside and in other locations during different parts of the ceremony. Dance is utilized by the tribeswomen and by the Kinaalda herself, as she runs in a large circle, representing freedom and containment, world and family. The Kinaalda may run by herself or children may accompany her.

The myth that surrounds the ceremony comes from the legend of the Changing Woman, the female deity who is the Earth, the source and origin of life, the fertile field and woman, who populates the earth. To the Navajo, the environment is of utmost concern. The earth gives them everything they have and they control and work with the earth in order to gain food, shelter, warmth and water. The Navajo way of life stresses balance and harmony with the earth. In return, the earth gives them order and beauty, as well as creativity (Amrani 13).

According to the Kinaalda ceremony, time is changing the Kinaalda from a girl into a woman and it is this past, present and future in one, that she is celebrating. The rigidly controlled ritual, a combination of the telling of the legend of the origin of the people and their relationship to the earth (their mother), singing and dancing to demonstrate various elements and symbols of the legend. The reproductivity of the woman is stressed, as activity and productivity are controlled by the women of the tribe. The ritual takes four days, days in which the girl is painted white, adorned with jewelry, dressed and has her hair combed. She does not tend to herself; others tend to her, but she grinds corn and creates food as a symbol of her activity in life. She moves in a dance, on her knees she leans forward and backward as she grinds the corn; she runs and sits and sings and listens according to the ritual. It is a dance in celebration of life.

The Quinceanos Celebration, on the other hand, is the traditional way for Hispanic Catholics to celebrate a young woman's 15th birthday. On the chosen day, church bells are rung, a mariachi band serenades and the girl appears dressed in white, as a bride, with her family and friends. At the church, she renews her baptismal vows and makes a public commitment to God and Our Lady to live as a Christian. The ceremony of quinceanos is important, not only to the girl, as she turns into a woman, but to her family, who gather support from extended family and the community, and they take pride in having a new woman in the family. They usually have invited close friends or relatives to be godparents in the ceremony. Several sets of godparents widens the circle of support for the family so that the family "is strengthened as a whole by so many mutual bonds of support and encouragement." (Duck, 1).

The young girl turning 15 is accompanied by seven young women (her damas) and seven young men (her chambelanes). "The number of damas and chambelanes can vary," explains Msgr. Patrick Brankin, pastor of St. Therese in Tulsa, Oklahoma, speaking of a ceremony he is watching, "but in this case, the total number of damas and chamberlanes was 14, which plus the quinceanera equals 15, the 'magic number' for the celebration."

Quinceanos is a commonly celebrated holiday in Latin American cultures. The girl renews her baptismal vows and receives gifts symbolic of her baptism from her padrinos: a crown to remind her one day she will be crowned with glory in heaven; a ring to remind her of the love by which she became a child of God; a medal, a Bible and a rosary to remind her of prayer, and a bracelet, called an esclava, to remind her that she has promised to remain always a servant of Christ.

The Quinceanos is a religious form of celebration of a girl's growing up to be a woman. Although it lasts just one day, rather than four, it, too has origins that go back beyond recorded history. When the Spanish mixed with the native South Americans, they adopted some of the traditions of the Indians and combined them with European traditions, one of them being the celebration of passing into puberty and becoming a grown-up member of society for women. This became settled on the 15th birthday of the girl. Part of the ceremony, therefore, is very similar to the Kinaalda of the Navajo. The young woman is celebrated in public, she is presented by her parents and friends to society. She dances first with her father, then with other male relatives and friends, then with her "novio" or boyfriend, if there is one. She performs rituals, such as the "wedding" ceremony, she lights candles and holds flowers. Her friends present her with flowers and they all do traditional "Quince" dances. Today, commercialism has taken over much of the celebration for the Quinceanera, as families feel they must have photos and videos made, hire banquet halls and limousines and spend a lot of money on flowers and food. This contrasts greatly with the humble Kinaalda.