Quinceañera in English. What do you do?
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    Pick the music for me.

    Family requests Ave Maria (I assume Schubert). Rest is up to me.

    Go.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Step one, write the names of all hymns you know how to play on index cards.
    Step two, get a very large hat...
    Thanked by 3Gavin Caleferink musiclover88
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Politely decline Schubert's Ave Maria.

    Quincenera's a non-liturgical celebration, in this sense like a graduation ceremony. Have a Mass, and use the proper readings for the day or for the votive mass, and then have whatever 15-yr-olds from Spanish cultures are supposed to do _ AFTER MASS. I've pushed here for a Mass and graduation ceremony to be divorced from each other, and appear to have won one round.

    Weddings aren't about brides, but about sacraments. Funerals are prayers for the dead, not celebrations of anything.

    When we lose track of the simple truths, the simple decisions become impossible.

    Thanked by 2CharlesW CCooze
  • JahazaJahaza
    Posts: 470
    Quincenera is not a non-liturgical celebration. There is an official rite (PDF, both English and Spanish) that was approved by the USCCB and granted the recognitio of the Holy See in 2007.
    Thanked by 5CHGiffen Claire H PaxMelodious eft94530 TeresaW
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,799
    Link seems to have moved, but google turns up http://www.fwdioc.org/quince-anos-english.pdf

    specifying either Mass of the Day or Mass of Thanksgiving for the lessons/propers.
  • Caleferink
    Posts: 434
    Since there is an optional Marian consecration in the rite, and since the rite suggests using the Mass "In Thanksgiving" (if not the Mass of the day), I would say a setting of the Magnificat would be most appropriate. As for "Ave Maria"...eh...probably wouldn't be inappropriate at that particular moment of the ceremony, but it's so overused elsewhere (weddings, funerals) that I might avoid it unless the Mass of the Day happens to be a feast or commemoration of the BVM (such as on Saturdays in Ordinary Time). In my experience with these the family does often want a piece of "classical" music in there (even if the rest is sacro-pop or "Hispanic") but the Schubert "Ave Maria" is all they know of the genre.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Calefrink,

    If most people used the Quincinera for a dedication of the young lady's life to Our Lady, I could see singing such a piece for the occasion.

  • Marc Cerisier
    Posts: 537
    We typically sing a setting of the Magnificat at that point in our Quince liturgies.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Marc,

    Quince has its own liturgy?

    (Channelling my inner Adam Wood)
  • ClemensRomanusClemensRomanus
    Posts: 1,023
    There is an Order for the Blessing on the 15th Birthday published by the USCCB with recognitio.
  • Marc Cerisier
    Posts: 537
    Chris,

    Sorry, but I don't understand your question or your channeling. I just thought I was supporting the use of the Magnificat over the Ave Maria in Quince liturgies. As others have pointed out, I don't see how it could be argued to be an illicit practice—we follow the officially published right, and offer them in English and Spanish as requested by the family.

    Marc
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    I think I know what Chris was getting at. This is a Quinceañera, famously sweet:
    image

    This is a quince, famously sour:
    image


    Some modern music is reminiscent of a quince.

    quinceanera-group.jpg
    400 x 267 - 33K
    quince.jpg
    233 x 217 - 6K
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    (Again chanelling my inner Adam): THIS.
  • musiclover88
    Posts: 156
    I sang at a Quinceañera once and the order of the service was very similar to a wedding, so I would suggest some of the same music you would do for a wedding. A nice instrumental piece for a processional, Ave Maria, maybe a congregational hymn of thanksgiving or a Marian hymn for the recessional. Most of the Spanish hymns/songs I'm familiar with aren't that high quality, so I'd leave them out, unless you know of something nice.

    Also, make sure you get paid in advance.
  • Marc Cerisier
    Posts: 537
    In our diocese, the girl celebrating her 15th birthday is the Quinceñera, and the liturgy us the "Quince" (literally, 15). This distinction has been universal between lay, religious and ordained who, while serving here, are native to countries where this celebration is part of the local tradition.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Interesting. Most of us are probably only familiar with the terminology used on the USCCB site, where "quinceañera" refers to the celebration and the young woman. For example:

    1. What is a quinceañera?
    The quinceañera is a traditional celebration of life and gratitude to God on the occasion of the fifteenth birthday of a young Hispanic woman.

    3. How is the quinceañera celebrated?
    In the presence of family and friends, the young woman (the quinceañera), often accompanied by fifteen young men and women of her choice, (damas y chambelanes), enters the Church in procession, together with her parents and godparents.


    So if your custom is different, well: Autres pays, autres moeurs.
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    I provided the USA Quinceanera liturgical books history timeline at
    http://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/1900

    I probably must update the bit-rotted links.
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