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Cultural Connections Event: “Celebrating Adulthood – Coming of Age in Jewish and Puerto Rican Communities”
During the Traditions of Transition program year, the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture partnered with the Spertus Museum to explore how their constituents’ communities celebrate a child’s coming of age through the Quinceañera* and the Bar/Bat Mitzvah, respectively. Rabbi Laurence Edwards described the importance and history of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah, including the central role of learning to read and recite Hebrew scripture to become a full member of the congregation. Rev. Isaias Mercado discussed the Quinceañera ritual in Puerto Rico, and more narrowly within his Protestant church within the Puerto Rican community of Chicago. Young presenters shared the excitement of coming of age through these rituals and showed the important adornments they wore, such as the prayer shawl in the Bar Mitzvah and the beautiful dress for the Quinceañera.
*The word Quinceañero is used in some countries, such as Puerto Rico and Peru, when referring to the rite acknowledging a girl’s passage from childhood to womanhood around the age of fifteen. In these countries, the word quinceañera is used when referring to the girl undergoing the transformation. For consistency, on this site the rite of passage is referred to as the Quinceañera.
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