Girls prepare for and celebrate their quinceanera birthday parties in Havana, Cuba.
A quinceanera is the celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday in parts of Latin America. This birthday is celebrated differently from any other as it marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood.
Latin traditions say that girls were prepared to be married by the age of fifteen and in years prior to their fifteenth birthdays, they were taught to cook, weave, and about child rearing by the elder women in their communities in preparation for their lives as married women.
Small businesses catering to quinceaneras, weddings, and other events are thriving as the loosening of restrictions on travel and business with the U.S. has Cubans hopeful for an improved economy.
Photographer: Lisette Poole/Bloomberg
