May 15, 2018 • 39 mins
A quinceañera is the celebration of a girl of Hispanic heritage becoming a young woman on her 15th birthday. It involves family, friends, music and a lot of great food. Join Josh and Chuck as they don their favorite pink dresses and go over this wonderful tradition.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house Stuff Works
dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark.
There's Charles W. Choke Bryant, There's Jerry. And this is
a very special day for us. It's a very special
day for Jerry because she's celebrating her her very special
(00:24):
day because today Jerry turns sweet fifteen. Right, well, technically
it's her triple king Tanya. No, Jerry started producing the
show when she was five. Oh yeah, she was the
wonder kin. She was a child prodigy three, A lot
of temper tantrums. Yeah, but we got through that time,
we did the Terrible fives and now she's just a
(00:47):
pretty little lady in her pink lacey satine dress. Yeah,
that dresses a lot, even for a king signor address.
Jerry agreed. Can I go ahead and say I don't
do the R role very well? So I'm just gonna
say Keen Sanira, okay, instead of Kencaniana. Yeah that wasn't
very good either, right. I used to do a good
(01:08):
R role because of German, but I feel like I've
lost it a bit, and I guess it's actually an
end role. Keen Signietta is good, right, yeah, but if
I try to keep it up, it's it's I think
it's going to fatigue everybody pretty quick. So Keen Sanira, Well,
and the last thing we want to be here two
jackass white dudes, Well, that's what we're doing too, thick
(01:29):
to forty something white dudes are about to talk about
Keen Sanieta's like, we know what we're talking about when
we did the research, and I think it's uh. I
think it's good to cover stuff like this. I do too.
I had very little understanding about this, just from what
I've seen on like MTV or whatever, you know, did
they have a show they have one called like My
(01:51):
Sweet sixteen or whatever I might be complaining with. But
I swear I've seen ken like I knew some of
this stuff somewhere. I don't nowhere though, somewhere just in
the just being plugged into culture, I knew it. I guess. Yeah. Well,
I lived in Los Angeles, as you know, and they
have obviously quite a Latin population, and I looked up
(02:14):
Hispanic in Latino. I wanted to get out all right, good, good,
let's hear what you got. Well, it says that they
can generally used interchangeably these days. But um, I think
Latino can like I think Hispanic refers to whether or
not you actually have Spanish speaking roots. Oh is that right?
But um, Latino can be like Brazil uh in places
(02:36):
in South America as well, if I'm not mistaken. I
heard once that Ronald Reagan was the person who coined
the term Hispanic, or at least popularized it. Really Yeah,
well it was that tattoo across his upper back Hispanic
life for life, yea with the number four. Uh. But
at any rate, you know, lived in l A and
there's uh, you know, a large Mexican population. So I
(02:58):
would see Quantanietas going on all the time when you're
just driving around on a weekend. That I would see
stuff and I was like, wait a minute, it's not
prom it's summer. Like what's going on? It's like Prom
times ten. And then some somebody hit me in the head.
They're like, you dummy, dumb white guy from the South.
That's a Kencanietas, right, And so I was like, well,
(03:21):
you know what one they I'm gonna do a podcast
about that. They said, what is a podcast? To make
up for all this? He said, just watch that's right.
So one thing I saw was um with Latin, you know,
like with Latino or Latino, there's the ingrained masculine. But
something I saw pop up in a couple of sites
was they would replace the O or the A with
(03:43):
an X just to make it the word gender neutral,
like Latin X. Oh. Yeah, I don't know how you
pronounced it. I didn't get that far, but I saw
imprint in a couple of different sites where they were
trying to remove the gender from you know, Tino or
Latina and just make it genderal gender neutral. Because there's
(04:04):
there's a m. I haven't seen it, but there's an
HBO documentary about Kenson gets and one of them is
for a trans girl. Okay, would it be pronounced Latins? Maybe?
I mean I have to see it written down. How
is the X in like wakaka? Isn't it like hot
(04:24):
wa wa? So maybe Lata? That's where I'm going with
here we go. I didn't want to be too dumb dumbs,
and we're so far down dumb dumb lane it's not
even funny. No, So let's try to get this back
on the rail, shall we. I think what we just
did was great because we explored some questions we had,
(04:45):
But now we can talk about everything we know about Kenson.
Getis right, which is we've been dancing around this thing.
This is the fifteen birthday celebration for young ladies, young
women in Mexico, Puerto Rico, in Cuba, in the United States,
kind of all over the world. Um, this is this
(05:08):
can take place? Yeah, Um, and it seems to be
so it's a it's actually a very traditional thing to
where um Catholic, like the Catholic nous of the girl
and her even pre Catholic origins bind together with what
(05:34):
I guess you would call like is a universal coming
of age celebration that also focuses on the individuality and
tastes of the girl. You put all those things together,
you have a keen Signetta, which is a fifteenth birthday party,
which is a coming out party for a girl as
(05:56):
she transitions from um girlhood into womanhood. It happens on
this day and they throw a huge celebration. And there's
a lot of really cool traditions that you're gonna find it,
Like every king signhetta that are that have some a
neat origin story to them or a neat symbolism to
them and also some great music, some delicious food. Mm.
(06:18):
Family coming together for an important day. It's really great.
Not just family, the whole community is meant to you know,
like extended family. People in the community that have like
had an impact on the girl's life, like a teacher.
People chip in for the expense of this. It's like
a real communal thing. Should we go back in time? Okay,
let's or did you want to go to the future. No, no,
(06:41):
we'll go back in time all right. So the origins
of this, say, date back all the way to the
Aztec Indians. Um. Obviously in the fourteen hundreds and fifteen hundreds,
they were performing these festivals because girls back then we're
marriage ready at the age of fifteen. That's kind of
what it symbolized, right, And like it's it wasn't just
(07:03):
the Aztecs. Like around the world and cultures around the
world like you you would find some sort of coming
of age or rites of passage into womanhood. And yeah,
when you came out the other end, it was like
you were on the market then from that point on,
that's right. And they had ceremonies, they had speeches, um,
talking about how important it is to become a wise,
(07:27):
upstanding member of society as a young woman. Um. Then
the Spanish come along. Of course, they invade what we
now call Mexico over through the Aztecs, and that brought
in a European influence to this whole experience. And this
is where things got a little more, um, a little
more like debutante. Yeah, it's actually I looked into this
(07:48):
a little further, chuck. And they they are. They can't
say for certain where Keintaniettez came from, but they think
the Aztecs. But their source comes from a single nun
working in Mexico who wrote an account that had been
given to a priest forty years earlier from another priest
(08:10):
who had supposedly in the fifteen twenties interviewed some az
Tech high priests about their culture. So that's where the
whole idea that there was a rite of passage at
age fifteen comes from kind of shaky. And then other
people say, well, no, this is obviously a Spanish colonial influence,
like being presented at court. But the the idea that
(08:30):
it's a rite of passage into womanhood is so universal
that it probably is a combination of the two of them.
No one can just say for certain though what the
origin is specifically. Yeah, and apparently until the nineteen sixties, UM,
it was really kind of an upper class thing. But
then in the nineteen sixties, as Latinos immigrated to the
(08:53):
United States and they became more part of American fabric,
they really kind of really kind of spread throughout the
US and Latin America as becoming across all socio economic classes.
And uh, we'll get to this a little more later.
But wonderfully, like you said, um, in poorer communities, you
see entire communities chipping in some money many times, or
(09:17):
the the godmothers and godfathers and padnos and Madrina's like
that to help pay for this stuff. UM. I saw
this photographer did a really great photos series of Quintana's
celebrations in poor neighborhoods in Mexico and photograph these really
beautiful photographs of these these young women in their dresses
(09:39):
sort of in the middle of a very depressed neighborhood, UM,
and just showing how important it was that they still
had this celebration, um, even though they they it was
it was a burden financially on their families, right. Yeah,
I think Mexico City got together in two thousand and
seven and um, some of the businesses, some of them,
(10:02):
some nonprofit groups held like a big mass kin signeta
UM and now they do it every year for girls
who who wouldn't otherwise be able to have one. Yeah.
I also read a New York Times article where, um,
there's a lot of bias like when it comes to
things like this and and barn bought Mitzvah's and Debutante balls,
where it's very easy for someone to say, like you,
(10:26):
you know, if you're poor living in Mexico City, why
are you wasting? And that's an air quotes your money
on this celebration when your family doesn't have much money,
and they say, you know, you never hear this kind
of criticism for bar Mitzvah's and bought Mitzvah's or debutants, um,
regardless of so socioeconomic status. So it's just very important,
(10:48):
important part of their culture that should be UM shouldn't
be looked down upon just because they may not have
the kind of money to throw a big one. Uh
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, And I'm yeah,
I'm sure one of the things that you just kind
of hit on the head is that it's a it's
a it's a part of UM Latin next culture UM,
(11:12):
which is one reason why it's become so big in America.
It's a way of UM people of Latino heritage to say,
you know, this is my heritage too, and this is
how I'm going to come of age in America. But
because it's also in America and these are American born
girls of UM Latino heritage, they they have come over
(11:33):
time to kind of meld together with what Americans look
at and say, that's just one enormous Sweet six Team party.
But there's there's some details in there that you'll find
it at Kenson Era that you won't at a Sweet
six Team party. And we'll talk about those right after this.
Well done, all right, Charles. So we are going to
(12:17):
start the day. It's a frantic day. It's a hectic day.
From everything I understand from what I've read, this is
a an actually like a cool day for a girl,
but also very stressful. All right. It's like a it's
like a wedding or a prom or anything where there's
UM a lot of pressure on this one. You know,
(12:38):
six hour experience. But think about this. With a wedding,
you've got your s O to plan the wedding with.
With prom, you've got a handful of other girls to plan.
You know what you're doing with prom, and plus proms
already being planned for you by your school or whatever.
This is like your day, and part of your responsibility
(12:59):
is the keensie Yetta, which by the way, Kensonietta literally
translates to the girl who is fifteen, um, so this
is technically your Fiesta day keen Signetta or something like that.
Part of your responsibility as Kensanetta is to show that
you can take part in this planning. On the one hand,
it's to allow it to reflect your personality and your taste,
(13:22):
so you're the one who needs to choose all this stuff.
But it also shows that you can be a grown
up too and undertake months of planning leading up to
this thing and basically pull it off. Correct, you are right, Okay?
So the whole thing starts with a trip to church,
which is not what you're going to find, right, Which
is not what you're gonna find a normal American like
(13:42):
say Sweet six Team party, No, And it depends on
the church where you're gonna have and you know, sometimes
the celebration also occurs at the church. Sometimes that occurs
at a different spot. Um, kind of like a wedding,
you know, sometimes you'll have the reception somewhere else. Right,
That's not how I started, which we'll talk about that
in a minute, but go ahead. But it beens on
(14:03):
the church where you're a member or where you're having
this initial ceremony. But the girl before this all happens
for weeks ahead of time, may actually be required to
attend classes in advance of this, so they're prepared. They
know to what to expect, right. Um. They well, yeah,
that's about it as far as the weeks ahead part,
(14:25):
as far as the church and all the planning, Yeah,
of course. Right. So on the day they arrive at
the church, and you were saying, like, you know, now
it's kind of evolved to where you have, like like
like a wedding, you have the ceremony of the church
and then the event elsewhere, right, And that's becoming more
and more the way. But one of the reasons that
is becoming, um the way is because in Los Angeles,
(14:49):
the Los Angeles Archdiocese issued like a set of guidelines
that basically put the kai bosh on this idea of
the kingson era as a big lavish affair. Uh. And
it really dampened this burgeoning um I guess industry or
tradition or whatever. Um put a damper on it for
a little while because families didn't want to go against
(15:11):
the Church, so they kind of toned down the king sanniras.
But the reason the Church is doing this is because
there were too many kingsonias, not enough Spanish speaking priests.
And then also the Catholic Church has always had an
awkward position in this. In this tradition, it's not a
Catholic tradition, it's a cultural tradition by a group of
(15:33):
people who are predominantly Catholic and involved the Church as
part of this tradition. But this this tradition, if anything,
is a syncretized tradition. Remember when we were in Guatemala.
The melding of Catholic beliefs and um like pagan pre
pre um colonial beliefs, indigenous beliefs is syncretism. This is
(15:54):
an example of that. There's like az tech rituals supposedly
mixed with this. The whole thing starts at at a
Catholic church with a mass, So the church is kind
of had alternately hands on and hands off view of
this whole thing and almost put a complete damper on it.
(16:16):
But since then it just kind of said, Okay, we'll
just start off at the church and we'll have the
the party afterward elsewhere. Yeah. And I've also seen that
a lot of churches now are straying away from me
is because they feel like there's just a lot of
disrespectful behavior. Um, like you know, people partying on the
pews and taking pictures with their phone and texting, and
(16:39):
like they kind of forget that they're in a church, right,
which I mean, if you step back and think about it,
having a girl's fifteen year birthday party in an actual church,
that's a terrible idea to begin with. Yes, so it
makes sense to to do this kind of solemn ceremony
at the church and then party elsewhere, which I think
(16:59):
is pretty much par for the course these days. All Right,
So before the mass takes place, um, this young woman
has and and Kristen Corner, remember Kristen of course, what's
the name of their podcast, Unladylike, unlady Like that's right. Yeah,
Kristen Caroline formally of stuff mom never told you now
with unladylike she wrote this article and she said that
(17:23):
custom calls for fourteen damas or maiden attendants UM to
represent the fourteen years of her life up and to
that point. I saw elsewhere seven. That's what I saw,
to be paired with seven young men. Um. Do you
want to pronounce that? Shambaland's Yeah, that's that's how I
took it. Shambalan's I read in another place. I was like, oh,
(17:46):
wait a minute, which is it? Um? And apparently can
be seven to fifteen. So depending on I guess how
many really close friends you have, kind of like picking
out your your bridesmaids and groomsmen. Yeah, and I saw
plenty of videos of Ken Sanerre's where like there were
three girls. Yeah, but I think under strict tradition of
(18:09):
the Kensignetta you would have fourteen girls and fifteen dudes.
You got fourteen damas, fifteen chamberlains and then one I
got it, and then one Chamberlayne Day on air, which
I totally missed up. But it's it's basically the the
(18:29):
escort of honor. Who is the the Kensignetta's date, that's right.
And again I'm sure that there's somely way that Ken
Sanietta cops aren't going to come by because you don't
have enough uh friends helping you. They have larger fish
to fry on Ken Sanietta day. Right, Although the whoever
(18:49):
is helping you plan this, it would probably love it
if you had fourteen guys and fourteen girls because they
all have to be outfitted in exactly what you want
them to wear, because it's your party, that's right. And
I don't think we mentioned, but the dress is a
very big part of the celebration. Um Traditionally it's either
pink or white, very saturny. I mean it looks kind
(19:11):
of like a prom dress, a big frilly um floor
length of gown. But then also is eight ft wide, yeah,
exactly at the waist like out it's extraordinary. It's like
a princess dress. Yeah, like I want to Ken Taniera, Well,
we can throw you one, buddy, Okay, you don't do that,
Sure you'll get all pretty for the camera. I definitely
(19:32):
would find a nice stress. All right. So the first stop, though,
like you said, is the church, and this is where
um a lot of the ceremony takes place. Um, they
receive a blessing from a priest. Um, the young woman
commits herself to her protecting her virginity and her spiritual devotion. Um.
(19:53):
And then they leave a bouquet flowers near the Virgin
Mary statue. Uh. And then traditionally they would give away
a porcelain doll, one of their childhood dolls, or again,
tradition varies. These days, it might be a step teddy
bear or something else that just meant something to the girl.
One thing I saw was at Kens signetta barbie. Oh yeah,
(20:15):
all right, Well they'll pass that along to a younger
sister or another relative, another female relative to basically say,
like again symbolic of I'm entering young adulthood and I'm
passing on this silly barbie to you. What's the name
of that, the ultimamuneka. Oh, I don't know, I didn't
see that. Ultima muneka means the last doll, and it
(20:38):
shows that she's leaving girlhood behind. And you can guess
which which one of those, the ceramic doll or the
old toy or the brand new barbie the younger female
relative wants these days sure. Yeah so um, so that
may or may not happen at the church. The thing
that seems to be what definitely up as of the
(21:00):
church is the girl is presented with a rosary, a
prayer book or a Bible um and leaves flowers at
the altar and or the statue of the Virgin Mary,
and then receives a blessing. Right, that's right. So let's
say that all that happened at the church and the
the girl has been blessed. Sometimes it's part of a
regular mass, like she may stand up and come up
(21:21):
to the altar and get a special blessing if if
if her parents are pulling all the right strings, maybe
she can get her own mass for it. But um,
she may also be sharing that mass with other keen
signetas there's a bunch of different ways to do it.
But once the mass is done, once she said like
I am committing myself to the Catholic Church, and I'm
a very spiritual girl, and and um, thanks for the blessing,
(21:44):
I'm out e five thousand, she's heading off to the party.
That's right. Get that just like a good wedding. Get
that part over with quickly so you can get your
party on, right. So while she's getting into the limo,
we'll take another break. Okay, alright, look at her trying
to stuff that dress in that Okay, chuck. So she
(22:29):
has gotten in the limo, she's driven off, and now
they're going to the venue, which is basically anywhere that
you would also hold like a wedding reception. You could
hold a keen signor party. Yeah, I mean it could be.
It really depends on the budget of the family involved.
They could rent out a a large hall, or they
could it could be in the backyard of their own
(22:50):
home or at a friend's house. Yeah. And again this
is not just on the parents shoulders. It's very customary
and very traditional for the girl to approach family members, UM,
members of the business community, um, just anybody she can
think of to say, hey, costs are really adding up
(23:11):
and can you, you know, chip in a little bit.
And like the the keison, Eira will be sponsored by
multiple people besides just her parents. Yeah, and I did
I also read in that article on that really great
photo spread the guy did he interviewed the family members,
and one of the families he said, how long have
you you know? They didn't have much money, and he said,
how long have you been saving for this? And they
(23:32):
said for fifteen years? Oh man, Like they started sucking
away money every year because they knew this was coming
so great and it was important. It was very sweet story. Yeah.
I think the aspect that, you know, the community chips
in and and also comes to like witness this girl's
transition to adulthood. UM. I just really appreciate that. I
(23:52):
think it's really cool that that's part of it, you know,
it makes it rather than it's just the parents are
footing the bill for everything. I just think that's cool. Yeah. Well,
and it's a culture where family and community such a
important revered thing, um, and it's something that I'm envious of,
you know. Yeah, for sure. So when the when the
(24:15):
girl gets there, the first thing that's gonna happen is
the music is going to be starting, um and her
courts going to come in and get introduced. Those are
the um Damas and the Shambalans. Why is that not
sounding right because it sounds French? Right? Okay, so that's
but am i am I pronouncing it French? I don't
(24:35):
know that's what I'm saying it. It's uh, I'm not sure.
I don't know the origins of that word. Okay, So,
um those two her court, They're gonna come in one
by one and get announced virtually, just like a wedding
when the bride and groom show up, the groom's maids, no,
the bride, the groomsman's and then the um bridesmaids come on.
(24:59):
Man very hanging in there. They get introduced, you know,
one by one is they're coming in, and then finally
the the chamberland, the the honorary escort is introduced, and
then you finally have the keen Tierra come in and
the music changes and she's like you're like raising the roof,
you know, and the party's just everyone erupts into this
(25:22):
craziness from that moment on. Yeah, and again, it could
be a DJ. It could be a mariachi band. It
could be a rock band. It could be a DJ
playing Marriott. It could be it could be uh like
with my wedding, I had an iPod loaded up with
my mix and just hit play nice. So this is
(25:44):
probably a DJ with a light system and a dance floor.
All the videos I saw are very much like that. Um,
so the court has been introduced and then one of
the first things that happens is the girl is presented
with a crown tiara. She's presented with a scepter. So
(26:04):
for the killing, all right, for the bashing later and
then write the ritual, the ritual killing of the chipmunk Um.
And she's seated, probably on a throne of some sort
or a central chair, maybe one of those like Wicker,
remember the Wicker like seventies chair, like flared out and up.
(26:24):
It looked kind of like, yeah, maybe she's sitting on
one of those. But she's she's basically the center of
attention right then, and something kind of cool happens. The
shoes shoes wearing that she came in with flat sold
sandals or um slippers or something like that. Her dad
comes over and takes those off, and then he puts
(26:45):
on high heels and snaps his fingers, twirls and goes,
she's a woman, yes, And I bet you anything this,
This young lady has practiced walking in those before. I
don't think she would want her first experience in heels
to be in that dress on the big day. It's
just logical chuck talking, Although it would be fun to watch, No,
(27:09):
come on, you don't think it would be. No one
wants to see uh what do they? Kristen said, they
call her Keen's girls sometimes. Yeah, no one wants to
see a Keen's girl fall over. That's true except you.
But you got laughed at while you did the backstroke,
so I get it. Yeah, mocked. Uh. They may also
get gifts, but not always a lot of times there
(27:32):
are symbolic gifts. A lot of times other people will
bring gifts, but from the parents. The festival and ceremony
itself is the gift. But sometimes if the parents have
some dough and a big budget, they may get what's
called regallo sorpressa, which is a surprise gift. Um on
top of everything else. And this of course is including
(27:56):
um like you mentioned the prayer book and the Rosary
and the Bible and stuff like that, right, and that
those were probably given to her at the church before.
I'm thinking that, depending on the position of her parents socioeconomically,
the girls probably getting other other presents too. Yeah. Um,
but yes, supposedly just the kensior A party is like
(28:20):
this is plenty, don't you think. Yeah, But I think
the gifts to also are always represent that transition into adulthood.
So she's not getting the dolls anymore. She gets maybe
some jewelry or ear rings and stuff like that, right,
stuff to deliver her into womanhood. And then guests are
also giving gifts as well, and her party favors the
(28:42):
way that the whole thing set up, even though the
community like um might have people that chip in her
family members or whatever. The parents are saying like, come
help celebrate our our daughter's transition into womanhood. Right, So
the party as men is like a gift for the guests,
and and so the thing is kind of meant to
(29:03):
be like come and get your eat on and your
drink on and just have a lot of fun. The
thing is part of that welcomeness and that inclusiveness and
that you know, please come and be a part of
this um. That backfired really hard for this one couple.
Have you heard about Ruby Abara Garcia? Oh my, So,
(29:26):
Ruby Abara Garcia turned fifteen on December nineteen, year two
thousand and sixteen, okay, just like a year or so ago.
And she is from Lahoya, which is in San Luis, Potosi, Mexico,
and it's a little tiny town. Two and her parents
decided to get with the times and make like a
(29:48):
YouTube invitation video invitation to come to um Ruby's Kinsera.
But they posted on on YouTube and they didn't put
any privacy settings on and it went viral and twenty
thousand people from around the world showed up to Ruby's
Keen Signetta party in this little town of two hundred.
(30:09):
That's kind of great. So right, it was great on
the one hand, but if you look at the photos
from it, she was very much overwhelming. True was not
expecting it. Apparently, like like on Facebook, like over a
million people said they were coming, but even still twenty
and if you look, there's like all these stands set up,
and like people from all over the country and the
(30:29):
world chipped in to like feed everybody and make sure
everybody had takes or whatever. So the parents said, okay,
we're doing this um and they they did it. They
they stepped up and and met there there there are
they kept their welcome to everybody. I guess as a
way to put it, that's kind of great. But I
can definitely see on the day that the girl might
(30:50):
have been overwhelmed. But I bet she also in retrospect,
it's like, hey, I've got one cool story for my life. Now.
Oh yeah, she's got a big old story and she
got a Chevy Volt. Serious. Yeah, I couldn't tell. I
literally couldn't tell if you were just being Joki Josh
there that was. I didn't even need to be that time.
So Chevy got involved, of course. I think her parents
(31:12):
gave her that. Oh I figured Chevy was like, hey, no,
I think that was I think that was her rigalo
surpraise her surprise gift. Yes, and speaking of sour praises,
um the that was uni Spanish name, by the way.
But speaking of surprises, there's also chuck. Go onto YouTube
(31:34):
and type in by a surprais a b A I
l e spraisa and just start watching these videos because
the Bia surpraise is one of the hallmarks of the
Keys and euro Party and they are about as adorable
and embarrassing as you can imagine. What what does that mean? Though?
What is it? Oh, it's a surprise dance. So it's like,
(31:57):
for months ahead of time, the key signer uh and
her court will practice a dance that they make up
or that they hire like a choreographer, and they will
like perform this dance for the guests. It's the surprise dance.
It's like part of the kingson era and um, they're
(32:17):
they're very cute to watch they do. But they also
are really they're very earnest about it too, like they
like they practice this dance and they're they're doing it
and it's it's very cute. You can also hire Shamblaan's
professional ones and they're all like dancers by trade, so
(32:37):
they'll they'll like really knock your socks off of your guests.
But it's, you know, it's lack in that heart of
something you and your friends came up with yourself. Or
you could if you had a lot of dough, you
could hire a choreographer like Paula Rebduel or something. Yeah. Yeah,
like her, she's still choreographing, right, yeah, choreographing, choreographing. Something
bad wrong with us today? You got anything else I do?
(33:02):
This is a little so oppresso for you. My friend,
there was a father in Texas a couple of years
ago that spent six a million dollars on his fifteen
year old daughter. Oh he uh what's his name here? Uh?
He's an attorney named Thomas J. Henry san Antonio. They
(33:22):
were very kind of well known family. His daughter Maya
is big on Instagram and social media, and she's big
into activism, so she's like, you know, she's not just
your ordinary teen, although that is kind of ordinary these days, thankfully,
to be a well known teen activists well to be active, sure.
(33:43):
But at her Kincaneta she had Nick Jonas perform, Pitbull perform. Um.
Let me see what else here? A fifty five thousand
square foot space that they built. I don't think they
built it from scratch, but it does say that it
was built. UM purpose built venue. How many guests? Six
(34:06):
hundred guests? Man a thirty foot tall cherry trees, a
thirty foot tall cherry cheese and full blossom walls of roses,
A garden room, the ballroom with butterfly suspended from the ceiling.
She wore a Rolando Santana dress, which means nothing to me,
but I assume that means it's something. She had her
(34:28):
makeup done by Patrick Ta who does the Kardashians. Her
photographer was Michelle Obama's photographer and um Thomas Henry and
his wife whose name is az Teca, beautiful name. They
hired a New York social event planner named David Man.
He had a hundred and fifty person team to to
(34:49):
plan out this party. And finally they arrived by police
escort in nine rolls Royces because why not, why not
get the police involved and not to feel too bad
for her little brother or I guess maybe it was
a big brother. Um, he spent four million dollars on
that kid's eighteenth birthday, I believe, o case o praisa,
(35:11):
So they have, they dropped ten million bucks on a
couple of parties for their kids. Man, and those the
girls in Mexico City are happy to to be part
of the city wide annual one. Yeah, I wonder what
pit Bull got paid for that? A mill? Uh? Maybe
(35:31):
I bet Nick Jonas got more than pit Bull, did
you think? Yeah? And of course she had her her
pictures with both of them, and well I'm sure that
was part of it. It's like, yeah, man, all right,
well that is something. What's her name, Maya? Yeah, Henry, Oh,
I gotta look that up. Um, if you want to
(35:52):
know more about kein Signetta as well, just show up
the one uninvited. See see how that goes. You know,
you'd probably be welcomed, probably chuck probably uh, And since
I said probably a couple of times, it's time for
listener mail. Hey guys, a long time listening to a
card carrying member of the Stuff you should know Army.
(36:13):
I've always want to write end, but just had and
found the right topic until the It Stranger Things script
retooling debate that was during emojis. Uh. Stephen King is
by far my favorite author and it is my absolute
favorite of his novels. Highly recommend. Also a huge Stranger
Things fan. Uh. They'll have no media experience. I do
have an m B A and know a thing or
two about marketing. WoT it's worth? I side with Josh
(36:35):
with the studio definitely retooling the script to create synergies
between It and Stranger Things. Aside from casting the Stranger
Things kid, which to me is a smoking gun. They
change the setting in the film to take place in
the eighties. Like Stranger Things the novel, Uh, the story
follows the main characters is in the fifties and then
again as adults in the eighties. There are elements of
(36:55):
the story that didn't translate as well into the eighties
in my opinion, but it was a small price to
pay in order to captivate that Stranger Things audience. Just
one guy's opinion, but I'd like to say one guy's
informed opinion. Sorry, Chuck for what it's worth. As a
movie crush or as a movie buff, always catch movie crush,
keep it up, Mike Sanders and Mike m I did
(37:20):
a very simple Google search and found that Stranger Things
was released in July two thousand sixteen, and principal photography
of it began about a week before that. Okay, so
that's therefore rendering that impossible. Here's the thing. Movies have
been known to change horses midstream, right. I don't think
(37:42):
that that settles it. Yes, do you think they shot
a bunch of the movie in the nineteen fifties and said,
wait a minute, this TV show we're here doing. No, no, no, no,
let's go make it the eighties. No. I don't think
let's recast this kid that we've already cast. I think
I I think that there. I think that they a
retool I do. I don't think that they did. Yeah,
(38:03):
I don't think they did. They I don't think they
were shooting in the fifties. I think they're probably shooting
in the eighties. I think they really. My whole point
has been that they played up the same things that
Stranger Things was known for and that you wouldn't find
in in the book it that and that they plumped
up that stuff because of Stranger Things. That's my assertion.
(38:27):
So as they're shooting the film it, they're doing rewrites.
They're doing rewrites because they're like, man, we gotta walk
into this TV show. Yes, and you can also do
that in the editing booth as you know as well,
which would have happened long after Stranger Things was already
a smash cultural phenomenon. That's I don't think it's settled, man, Okay,
(38:48):
And it never will be all right until the editor
tells me himself for herself that I'm just dead wrong. Okay.
If you want to settle a bet, you can get
in touch with us on Twitter at Josh M Clark,
at s Y s K podcast, or at movie Crush.
You can join Chuck on Facebook at Facebook dot com
slash Charles W. Chuck Bryant. You can also join us
(39:11):
on Facebook dot com slash Stuff. You should know to
send us an email to Stuff Podcast at how Stuff
Works dot com and has always joined us at Home
on the Web. Stuff you Should Know dot com For
more on this and thousands of other topics. Is It
How Stuff Works dot com
Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house Stuff Works
dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark.
There's Charles W. Choke Bryant, There's Jerry. And this is
a very special day for us. It's a very special
day for Jerry because she's celebrating her her very special
(00:24):
day because today Jerry turns sweet fifteen. Right, well, technically
it's her triple king Tanya. No, Jerry started producing the
show when she was five. Oh yeah, she was the
wonder kin. She was a child prodigy three, A lot
of temper tantrums. Yeah, but we got through that time,
we did the Terrible fives and now she's just a
(00:47):
pretty little lady in her pink lacey satine dress. Yeah,
that dresses a lot, even for a king signor address.
Jerry agreed. Can I go ahead and say I don't
do the R role very well? So I'm just gonna
say Keen Sanira, okay, instead of Kencaniana. Yeah that wasn't
very good either, right. I used to do a good
(01:08):
R role because of German, but I feel like I've
lost it a bit, and I guess it's actually an
end role. Keen Signietta is good, right, yeah, but if
I try to keep it up, it's it's I think
it's going to fatigue everybody pretty quick. So Keen Sanira, Well,
and the last thing we want to be here two
jackass white dudes, Well, that's what we're doing too, thick
(01:29):
to forty something white dudes are about to talk about
Keen Sanieta's like, we know what we're talking about when
we did the research, and I think it's uh. I
think it's good to cover stuff like this. I do too.
I had very little understanding about this, just from what
I've seen on like MTV or whatever, you know, did
they have a show they have one called like My
(01:51):
Sweet sixteen or whatever I might be complaining with. But
I swear I've seen ken like I knew some of
this stuff somewhere. I don't nowhere though, somewhere just in
the just being plugged into culture, I knew it. I guess. Yeah. Well,
I lived in Los Angeles, as you know, and they
have obviously quite a Latin population, and I looked up
(02:14):
Hispanic in Latino. I wanted to get out all right, good, good,
let's hear what you got. Well, it says that they
can generally used interchangeably these days. But um, I think
Latino can like I think Hispanic refers to whether or
not you actually have Spanish speaking roots. Oh is that right?
But um, Latino can be like Brazil uh in places
(02:36):
in South America as well, if I'm not mistaken. I
heard once that Ronald Reagan was the person who coined
the term Hispanic, or at least popularized it. Really Yeah,
well it was that tattoo across his upper back Hispanic
life for life, yea with the number four. Uh. But
at any rate, you know, lived in l A and
there's uh, you know, a large Mexican population. So I
(02:58):
would see Quantanietas going on all the time when you're
just driving around on a weekend. That I would see
stuff and I was like, wait a minute, it's not
prom it's summer. Like what's going on? It's like Prom
times ten. And then some somebody hit me in the head.
They're like, you dummy, dumb white guy from the South.
That's a Kencanietas, right, And so I was like, well,
(03:21):
you know what one they I'm gonna do a podcast
about that. They said, what is a podcast? To make
up for all this? He said, just watch that's right.
So one thing I saw was um with Latin, you know,
like with Latino or Latino, there's the ingrained masculine. But
something I saw pop up in a couple of sites
was they would replace the O or the A with
(03:43):
an X just to make it the word gender neutral,
like Latin X. Oh. Yeah, I don't know how you
pronounced it. I didn't get that far, but I saw
imprint in a couple of different sites where they were
trying to remove the gender from you know, Tino or
Latina and just make it genderal gender neutral. Because there's
(04:04):
there's a m. I haven't seen it, but there's an
HBO documentary about Kenson gets and one of them is
for a trans girl. Okay, would it be pronounced Latins? Maybe?
I mean I have to see it written down. How
is the X in like wakaka? Isn't it like hot
(04:24):
wa wa? So maybe Lata? That's where I'm going with
here we go. I didn't want to be too dumb dumbs,
and we're so far down dumb dumb lane it's not
even funny. No, So let's try to get this back
on the rail, shall we. I think what we just
did was great because we explored some questions we had,
(04:45):
But now we can talk about everything we know about Kenson.
Getis right, which is we've been dancing around this thing.
This is the fifteen birthday celebration for young ladies, young
women in Mexico, Puerto Rico, in Cuba, in the United States,
kind of all over the world. Um, this is this
(05:08):
can take place? Yeah, Um, and it seems to be
so it's a it's actually a very traditional thing to
where um Catholic, like the Catholic nous of the girl
and her even pre Catholic origins bind together with what
(05:34):
I guess you would call like is a universal coming
of age celebration that also focuses on the individuality and
tastes of the girl. You put all those things together,
you have a keen Signetta, which is a fifteenth birthday party,
which is a coming out party for a girl as
(05:56):
she transitions from um girlhood into womanhood. It happens on
this day and they throw a huge celebration. And there's
a lot of really cool traditions that you're gonna find it,
Like every king signhetta that are that have some a
neat origin story to them or a neat symbolism to
them and also some great music, some delicious food. Mm.
(06:18):
Family coming together for an important day. It's really great.
Not just family, the whole community is meant to you know,
like extended family. People in the community that have like
had an impact on the girl's life, like a teacher.
People chip in for the expense of this. It's like
a real communal thing. Should we go back in time? Okay,
let's or did you want to go to the future. No, no,
(06:41):
we'll go back in time all right. So the origins
of this, say, date back all the way to the
Aztec Indians. Um. Obviously in the fourteen hundreds and fifteen hundreds,
they were performing these festivals because girls back then we're
marriage ready at the age of fifteen. That's kind of
what it symbolized, right, And like it's it wasn't just
(07:03):
the Aztecs. Like around the world and cultures around the
world like you you would find some sort of coming
of age or rites of passage into womanhood. And yeah,
when you came out the other end, it was like
you were on the market then from that point on,
that's right. And they had ceremonies, they had speeches, um,
talking about how important it is to become a wise,
(07:27):
upstanding member of society as a young woman. Um. Then
the Spanish come along. Of course, they invade what we
now call Mexico over through the Aztecs, and that brought
in a European influence to this whole experience. And this
is where things got a little more, um, a little
more like debutante. Yeah, it's actually I looked into this
(07:48):
a little further, chuck. And they they are. They can't
say for certain where Keintaniettez came from, but they think
the Aztecs. But their source comes from a single nun
working in Mexico who wrote an account that had been
given to a priest forty years earlier from another priest
(08:10):
who had supposedly in the fifteen twenties interviewed some az
Tech high priests about their culture. So that's where the
whole idea that there was a rite of passage at
age fifteen comes from kind of shaky. And then other
people say, well, no, this is obviously a Spanish colonial influence,
like being presented at court. But the the idea that
(08:30):
it's a rite of passage into womanhood is so universal
that it probably is a combination of the two of them.
No one can just say for certain though what the
origin is specifically. Yeah, and apparently until the nineteen sixties, UM,
it was really kind of an upper class thing. But
then in the nineteen sixties, as Latinos immigrated to the
(08:53):
United States and they became more part of American fabric,
they really kind of really kind of spread throughout the
US and Latin America as becoming across all socio economic classes.
And uh, we'll get to this a little more later.
But wonderfully, like you said, um, in poorer communities, you
see entire communities chipping in some money many times, or
(09:17):
the the godmothers and godfathers and padnos and Madrina's like
that to help pay for this stuff. UM. I saw
this photographer did a really great photos series of Quintana's
celebrations in poor neighborhoods in Mexico and photograph these really
beautiful photographs of these these young women in their dresses
(09:39):
sort of in the middle of a very depressed neighborhood, UM,
and just showing how important it was that they still
had this celebration, um, even though they they it was
it was a burden financially on their families, right. Yeah,
I think Mexico City got together in two thousand and
seven and um, some of the businesses, some of them,
(10:02):
some nonprofit groups held like a big mass kin signeta
UM and now they do it every year for girls
who who wouldn't otherwise be able to have one. Yeah.
I also read a New York Times article where, um,
there's a lot of bias like when it comes to
things like this and and barn bought Mitzvah's and Debutante balls,
where it's very easy for someone to say, like you,
(10:26):
you know, if you're poor living in Mexico City, why
are you wasting? And that's an air quotes your money
on this celebration when your family doesn't have much money,
and they say, you know, you never hear this kind
of criticism for bar Mitzvah's and bought Mitzvah's or debutants, um,
regardless of so socioeconomic status. So it's just very important,
(10:48):
important part of their culture that should be UM shouldn't
be looked down upon just because they may not have
the kind of money to throw a big one. Uh
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, And I'm yeah,
I'm sure one of the things that you just kind
of hit on the head is that it's a it's
a it's a part of UM Latin next culture UM,
(11:12):
which is one reason why it's become so big in America.
It's a way of UM people of Latino heritage to say,
you know, this is my heritage too, and this is
how I'm going to come of age in America. But
because it's also in America and these are American born
girls of UM Latino heritage, they they have come over
(11:33):
time to kind of meld together with what Americans look
at and say, that's just one enormous Sweet six Team party.
But there's there's some details in there that you'll find
it at Kenson Era that you won't at a Sweet
six Team party. And we'll talk about those right after this.
Well done, all right, Charles. So we are going to
(12:17):
start the day. It's a frantic day. It's a hectic day.
From everything I understand from what I've read, this is
a an actually like a cool day for a girl,
but also very stressful. All right. It's like a it's
like a wedding or a prom or anything where there's
UM a lot of pressure on this one. You know,
(12:38):
six hour experience. But think about this. With a wedding,
you've got your s O to plan the wedding with.
With prom, you've got a handful of other girls to plan.
You know what you're doing with prom, and plus proms
already being planned for you by your school or whatever.
This is like your day, and part of your responsibility
(12:59):
is the keensie Yetta, which by the way, Kensonietta literally
translates to the girl who is fifteen, um, so this
is technically your Fiesta day keen Signetta or something like that.
Part of your responsibility as Kensanetta is to show that
you can take part in this planning. On the one hand,
it's to allow it to reflect your personality and your taste,
(13:22):
so you're the one who needs to choose all this stuff.
But it also shows that you can be a grown
up too and undertake months of planning leading up to
this thing and basically pull it off. Correct, you are right, Okay?
So the whole thing starts with a trip to church,
which is not what you're going to find, right, Which
is not what you're gonna find a normal American like
(13:42):
say Sweet six Team party, No, And it depends on
the church where you're gonna have and you know, sometimes
the celebration also occurs at the church. Sometimes that occurs
at a different spot. Um, kind of like a wedding,
you know, sometimes you'll have the reception somewhere else. Right,
That's not how I started, which we'll talk about that
in a minute, but go ahead. But it beens on
(14:03):
the church where you're a member or where you're having
this initial ceremony. But the girl before this all happens
for weeks ahead of time, may actually be required to
attend classes in advance of this, so they're prepared. They
know to what to expect, right. Um. They well, yeah,
that's about it as far as the weeks ahead part,
(14:25):
as far as the church and all the planning, Yeah,
of course. Right. So on the day they arrive at
the church, and you were saying, like, you know, now
it's kind of evolved to where you have, like like
like a wedding, you have the ceremony of the church
and then the event elsewhere, right, And that's becoming more
and more the way. But one of the reasons that
is becoming, um the way is because in Los Angeles,
(14:49):
the Los Angeles Archdiocese issued like a set of guidelines
that basically put the kai bosh on this idea of
the kingson era as a big lavish affair. Uh. And
it really dampened this burgeoning um I guess industry or
tradition or whatever. Um put a damper on it for
a little while because families didn't want to go against
(15:11):
the Church, so they kind of toned down the king sanniras.
But the reason the Church is doing this is because
there were too many kingsonias, not enough Spanish speaking priests.
And then also the Catholic Church has always had an
awkward position in this. In this tradition, it's not a
Catholic tradition, it's a cultural tradition by a group of
(15:33):
people who are predominantly Catholic and involved the Church as
part of this tradition. But this this tradition, if anything,
is a syncretized tradition. Remember when we were in Guatemala.
The melding of Catholic beliefs and um like pagan pre
pre um colonial beliefs, indigenous beliefs is syncretism. This is
(15:54):
an example of that. There's like az tech rituals supposedly
mixed with this. The whole thing starts at at a
Catholic church with a mass, So the church is kind
of had alternately hands on and hands off view of
this whole thing and almost put a complete damper on it.
(16:16):
But since then it just kind of said, Okay, we'll
just start off at the church and we'll have the
the party afterward elsewhere. Yeah. And I've also seen that
a lot of churches now are straying away from me
is because they feel like there's just a lot of
disrespectful behavior. Um, like you know, people partying on the
pews and taking pictures with their phone and texting, and
(16:39):
like they kind of forget that they're in a church, right,
which I mean, if you step back and think about it,
having a girl's fifteen year birthday party in an actual church,
that's a terrible idea to begin with. Yes, so it
makes sense to to do this kind of solemn ceremony
at the church and then party elsewhere, which I think
(16:59):
is pretty much par for the course these days. All Right,
So before the mass takes place, um, this young woman
has and and Kristen Corner, remember Kristen of course, what's
the name of their podcast, Unladylike, unlady Like that's right. Yeah,
Kristen Caroline formally of stuff mom never told you now
with unladylike she wrote this article and she said that
(17:23):
custom calls for fourteen damas or maiden attendants UM to
represent the fourteen years of her life up and to
that point. I saw elsewhere seven. That's what I saw,
to be paired with seven young men. Um. Do you
want to pronounce that? Shambaland's Yeah, that's that's how I
took it. Shambalan's I read in another place. I was like, oh,
(17:46):
wait a minute, which is it? Um? And apparently can
be seven to fifteen. So depending on I guess how
many really close friends you have, kind of like picking
out your your bridesmaids and groomsmen. Yeah, and I saw
plenty of videos of Ken Sanerre's where like there were
three girls. Yeah, but I think under strict tradition of
(18:09):
the Kensignetta you would have fourteen girls and fifteen dudes.
You got fourteen damas, fifteen chamberlains and then one I
got it, and then one Chamberlayne Day on air, which
I totally missed up. But it's it's basically the the
(18:29):
escort of honor. Who is the the Kensignetta's date, that's right.
And again I'm sure that there's somely way that Ken
Sanietta cops aren't going to come by because you don't
have enough uh friends helping you. They have larger fish
to fry on Ken Sanietta day. Right, Although the whoever
(18:49):
is helping you plan this, it would probably love it
if you had fourteen guys and fourteen girls because they
all have to be outfitted in exactly what you want
them to wear, because it's your party, that's right. And
I don't think we mentioned, but the dress is a
very big part of the celebration. Um Traditionally it's either
pink or white, very saturny. I mean it looks kind
(19:11):
of like a prom dress, a big frilly um floor
length of gown. But then also is eight ft wide, yeah,
exactly at the waist like out it's extraordinary. It's like
a princess dress. Yeah, like I want to Ken Taniera, Well,
we can throw you one, buddy, Okay, you don't do that,
Sure you'll get all pretty for the camera. I definitely
(19:32):
would find a nice stress. All right. So the first stop, though,
like you said, is the church, and this is where
um a lot of the ceremony takes place. Um, they
receive a blessing from a priest. Um, the young woman
commits herself to her protecting her virginity and her spiritual devotion. Um.
(19:53):
And then they leave a bouquet flowers near the Virgin
Mary statue. Uh. And then traditionally they would give away
a porcelain doll, one of their childhood dolls, or again,
tradition varies. These days, it might be a step teddy
bear or something else that just meant something to the girl.
One thing I saw was at Kens signetta barbie. Oh yeah,
(20:15):
all right, Well they'll pass that along to a younger
sister or another relative, another female relative to basically say,
like again symbolic of I'm entering young adulthood and I'm
passing on this silly barbie to you. What's the name
of that, the ultimamuneka. Oh, I don't know, I didn't
see that. Ultima muneka means the last doll, and it
(20:38):
shows that she's leaving girlhood behind. And you can guess
which which one of those, the ceramic doll or the
old toy or the brand new barbie the younger female
relative wants these days sure. Yeah so um, so that
may or may not happen at the church. The thing
that seems to be what definitely up as of the
(21:00):
church is the girl is presented with a rosary, a
prayer book or a Bible um and leaves flowers at
the altar and or the statue of the Virgin Mary,
and then receives a blessing. Right, that's right. So let's
say that all that happened at the church and the
the girl has been blessed. Sometimes it's part of a
regular mass, like she may stand up and come up
(21:21):
to the altar and get a special blessing if if
if her parents are pulling all the right strings, maybe
she can get her own mass for it. But um,
she may also be sharing that mass with other keen
signetas there's a bunch of different ways to do it.
But once the mass is done, once she said like
I am committing myself to the Catholic Church, and I'm
a very spiritual girl, and and um, thanks for the blessing,
(21:44):
I'm out e five thousand, she's heading off to the party.
That's right. Get that just like a good wedding. Get
that part over with quickly so you can get your
party on, right. So while she's getting into the limo,
we'll take another break. Okay, alright, look at her trying
to stuff that dress in that Okay, chuck. So she
(22:29):
has gotten in the limo, she's driven off, and now
they're going to the venue, which is basically anywhere that
you would also hold like a wedding reception. You could
hold a keen signor party. Yeah, I mean it could be.
It really depends on the budget of the family involved.
They could rent out a a large hall, or they
could it could be in the backyard of their own
(22:50):
home or at a friend's house. Yeah. And again this
is not just on the parents shoulders. It's very customary
and very traditional for the girl to approach family members, UM,
members of the business community, um, just anybody she can
think of to say, hey, costs are really adding up
(23:11):
and can you, you know, chip in a little bit.
And like the the keison, Eira will be sponsored by
multiple people besides just her parents. Yeah, and I did
I also read in that article on that really great
photo spread the guy did he interviewed the family members,
and one of the families he said, how long have
you you know? They didn't have much money, and he said,
how long have you been saving for this? And they
(23:32):
said for fifteen years? Oh man, Like they started sucking
away money every year because they knew this was coming
so great and it was important. It was very sweet story. Yeah.
I think the aspect that, you know, the community chips
in and and also comes to like witness this girl's
transition to adulthood. UM. I just really appreciate that. I
(23:52):
think it's really cool that that's part of it, you know,
it makes it rather than it's just the parents are
footing the bill for everything. I just think that's cool. Yeah. Well,
and it's a culture where family and community such a
important revered thing, um, and it's something that I'm envious of,
you know. Yeah, for sure. So when the when the
(24:15):
girl gets there, the first thing that's gonna happen is
the music is going to be starting, um and her
courts going to come in and get introduced. Those are
the um Damas and the Shambalans. Why is that not
sounding right because it sounds French? Right? Okay, so that's
but am i am I pronouncing it French? I don't
(24:35):
know that's what I'm saying it. It's uh, I'm not sure.
I don't know the origins of that word. Okay, So,
um those two her court, They're gonna come in one
by one and get announced virtually, just like a wedding
when the bride and groom show up, the groom's maids, no,
the bride, the groomsman's and then the um bridesmaids come on.
(24:59):
Man very hanging in there. They get introduced, you know,
one by one is they're coming in, and then finally
the the chamberland, the the honorary escort is introduced, and
then you finally have the keen Tierra come in and
the music changes and she's like you're like raising the roof,
you know, and the party's just everyone erupts into this
(25:22):
craziness from that moment on. Yeah, and again, it could
be a DJ. It could be a mariachi band. It
could be a rock band. It could be a DJ
playing Marriott. It could be it could be uh like
with my wedding, I had an iPod loaded up with
my mix and just hit play nice. So this is
(25:44):
probably a DJ with a light system and a dance floor.
All the videos I saw are very much like that. Um,
so the court has been introduced and then one of
the first things that happens is the girl is presented
with a crown tiara. She's presented with a scepter. So
(26:04):
for the killing, all right, for the bashing later and
then write the ritual, the ritual killing of the chipmunk Um.
And she's seated, probably on a throne of some sort
or a central chair, maybe one of those like Wicker,
remember the Wicker like seventies chair, like flared out and up.
(26:24):
It looked kind of like, yeah, maybe she's sitting on
one of those. But she's she's basically the center of
attention right then, and something kind of cool happens. The
shoes shoes wearing that she came in with flat sold
sandals or um slippers or something like that. Her dad
comes over and takes those off, and then he puts
(26:45):
on high heels and snaps his fingers, twirls and goes,
she's a woman, yes, And I bet you anything this,
This young lady has practiced walking in those before. I
don't think she would want her first experience in heels
to be in that dress on the big day. It's
just logical chuck talking, Although it would be fun to watch, No,
(27:09):
come on, you don't think it would be. No one
wants to see uh what do they? Kristen said, they
call her Keen's girls sometimes. Yeah, no one wants to
see a Keen's girl fall over. That's true except you.
But you got laughed at while you did the backstroke,
so I get it. Yeah, mocked. Uh. They may also
get gifts, but not always a lot of times there
(27:32):
are symbolic gifts. A lot of times other people will
bring gifts, but from the parents. The festival and ceremony
itself is the gift. But sometimes if the parents have
some dough and a big budget, they may get what's
called regallo sorpressa, which is a surprise gift. Um on
top of everything else. And this of course is including
(27:56):
um like you mentioned the prayer book and the Rosary
and the Bible and stuff like that, right, and that
those were probably given to her at the church before.
I'm thinking that, depending on the position of her parents socioeconomically,
the girls probably getting other other presents too. Yeah. Um,
but yes, supposedly just the kensior A party is like
(28:20):
this is plenty, don't you think. Yeah, But I think
the gifts to also are always represent that transition into adulthood.
So she's not getting the dolls anymore. She gets maybe
some jewelry or ear rings and stuff like that, right,
stuff to deliver her into womanhood. And then guests are
also giving gifts as well, and her party favors the
(28:42):
way that the whole thing set up, even though the
community like um might have people that chip in her
family members or whatever. The parents are saying like, come
help celebrate our our daughter's transition into womanhood. Right, So
the party as men is like a gift for the guests,
and and so the thing is kind of meant to
(29:03):
be like come and get your eat on and your
drink on and just have a lot of fun. The
thing is part of that welcomeness and that inclusiveness and
that you know, please come and be a part of
this um. That backfired really hard for this one couple.
Have you heard about Ruby Abara Garcia? Oh my, So,
(29:26):
Ruby Abara Garcia turned fifteen on December nineteen, year two
thousand and sixteen, okay, just like a year or so ago.
And she is from Lahoya, which is in San Luis, Potosi, Mexico,
and it's a little tiny town. Two and her parents
decided to get with the times and make like a
(29:48):
YouTube invitation video invitation to come to um Ruby's Kinsera.
But they posted on on YouTube and they didn't put
any privacy settings on and it went viral and twenty
thousand people from around the world showed up to Ruby's
Keen Signetta party in this little town of two hundred.
(30:09):
That's kind of great. So right, it was great on
the one hand, but if you look at the photos
from it, she was very much overwhelming. True was not
expecting it. Apparently, like like on Facebook, like over a
million people said they were coming, but even still twenty
and if you look, there's like all these stands set up,
and like people from all over the country and the
(30:29):
world chipped in to like feed everybody and make sure
everybody had takes or whatever. So the parents said, okay,
we're doing this um and they they did it. They
they stepped up and and met there there there are
they kept their welcome to everybody. I guess as a
way to put it, that's kind of great. But I
can definitely see on the day that the girl might
(30:50):
have been overwhelmed. But I bet she also in retrospect,
it's like, hey, I've got one cool story for my life. Now.
Oh yeah, she's got a big old story and she
got a Chevy Volt. Serious. Yeah, I couldn't tell. I
literally couldn't tell if you were just being Joki Josh
there that was. I didn't even need to be that time.
So Chevy got involved, of course. I think her parents
(31:12):
gave her that. Oh I figured Chevy was like, hey, no,
I think that was I think that was her rigalo
surpraise her surprise gift. Yes, and speaking of sour praises,
um the that was uni Spanish name, by the way.
But speaking of surprises, there's also chuck. Go onto YouTube
(31:34):
and type in by a surprais a b A I
l e spraisa and just start watching these videos because
the Bia surpraise is one of the hallmarks of the
Keys and euro Party and they are about as adorable
and embarrassing as you can imagine. What what does that mean? Though?
What is it? Oh, it's a surprise dance. So it's like,
(31:57):
for months ahead of time, the key signer uh and
her court will practice a dance that they make up
or that they hire like a choreographer, and they will
like perform this dance for the guests. It's the surprise dance.
It's like part of the kingson era and um, they're
(32:17):
they're very cute to watch they do. But they also
are really they're very earnest about it too, like they
like they practice this dance and they're they're doing it
and it's it's very cute. You can also hire Shamblaan's
professional ones and they're all like dancers by trade, so
(32:37):
they'll they'll like really knock your socks off of your guests.
But it's, you know, it's lack in that heart of
something you and your friends came up with yourself. Or
you could if you had a lot of dough, you
could hire a choreographer like Paula Rebduel or something. Yeah. Yeah,
like her, she's still choreographing, right, yeah, choreographing, choreographing. Something
bad wrong with us today? You got anything else I do?
(33:02):
This is a little so oppresso for you. My friend,
there was a father in Texas a couple of years
ago that spent six a million dollars on his fifteen
year old daughter. Oh he uh what's his name here? Uh?
He's an attorney named Thomas J. Henry san Antonio. They
(33:22):
were very kind of well known family. His daughter Maya
is big on Instagram and social media, and she's big
into activism, so she's like, you know, she's not just
your ordinary teen, although that is kind of ordinary these days, thankfully,
to be a well known teen activists well to be active, sure.
(33:43):
But at her Kincaneta she had Nick Jonas perform, Pitbull perform. Um.
Let me see what else here? A fifty five thousand
square foot space that they built. I don't think they
built it from scratch, but it does say that it
was built. UM purpose built venue. How many guests? Six
(34:06):
hundred guests? Man a thirty foot tall cherry trees, a
thirty foot tall cherry cheese and full blossom walls of roses,
A garden room, the ballroom with butterfly suspended from the ceiling.
She wore a Rolando Santana dress, which means nothing to me,
but I assume that means it's something. She had her
(34:28):
makeup done by Patrick Ta who does the Kardashians. Her
photographer was Michelle Obama's photographer and um Thomas Henry and
his wife whose name is az Teca, beautiful name. They
hired a New York social event planner named David Man.
He had a hundred and fifty person team to to
(34:49):
plan out this party. And finally they arrived by police
escort in nine rolls Royces because why not, why not
get the police involved and not to feel too bad
for her little brother or I guess maybe it was
a big brother. Um, he spent four million dollars on
that kid's eighteenth birthday, I believe, o case o praisa,
(35:11):
So they have, they dropped ten million bucks on a
couple of parties for their kids. Man, and those the
girls in Mexico City are happy to to be part
of the city wide annual one. Yeah, I wonder what
pit Bull got paid for that? A mill? Uh? Maybe
(35:31):
I bet Nick Jonas got more than pit Bull, did
you think? Yeah? And of course she had her her
pictures with both of them, and well I'm sure that
was part of it. It's like, yeah, man, all right,
well that is something. What's her name, Maya? Yeah, Henry, Oh,
I gotta look that up. Um, if you want to
(35:52):
know more about kein Signetta as well, just show up
the one uninvited. See see how that goes. You know,
you'd probably be welcomed, probably chuck probably uh, And since
I said probably a couple of times, it's time for
listener mail. Hey guys, a long time listening to a
card carrying member of the Stuff you should know Army.
(36:13):
I've always want to write end, but just had and
found the right topic until the It Stranger Things script
retooling debate that was during emojis. Uh. Stephen King is
by far my favorite author and it is my absolute
favorite of his novels. Highly recommend. Also a huge Stranger
Things fan. Uh. They'll have no media experience. I do
have an m B A and know a thing or
two about marketing. WoT it's worth? I side with Josh
(36:35):
with the studio definitely retooling the script to create synergies
between It and Stranger Things. Aside from casting the Stranger
Things kid, which to me is a smoking gun. They
change the setting in the film to take place in
the eighties. Like Stranger Things the novel, Uh, the story
follows the main characters is in the fifties and then
again as adults in the eighties. There are elements of
(36:55):
the story that didn't translate as well into the eighties
in my opinion, but it was a small price to
pay in order to captivate that Stranger Things audience. Just
one guy's opinion, but I'd like to say one guy's
informed opinion. Sorry, Chuck for what it's worth. As a
movie crush or as a movie buff, always catch movie crush,
keep it up, Mike Sanders and Mike m I did
(37:20):
a very simple Google search and found that Stranger Things
was released in July two thousand sixteen, and principal photography
of it began about a week before that. Okay, so
that's therefore rendering that impossible. Here's the thing. Movies have
been known to change horses midstream, right. I don't think
(37:42):
that that settles it. Yes, do you think they shot
a bunch of the movie in the nineteen fifties and said,
wait a minute, this TV show we're here doing. No, no, no, no,
let's go make it the eighties. No. I don't think
let's recast this kid that we've already cast. I think
I I think that there. I think that they a
retool I do. I don't think that they did. Yeah,
(38:03):
I don't think they did. They I don't think they
were shooting in the fifties. I think they're probably shooting
in the eighties. I think they really. My whole point
has been that they played up the same things that
Stranger Things was known for and that you wouldn't find
in in the book it that and that they plumped
up that stuff because of Stranger Things. That's my assertion.
(38:27):
So as they're shooting the film it, they're doing rewrites.
They're doing rewrites because they're like, man, we gotta walk
into this TV show. Yes, and you can also do
that in the editing booth as you know as well,
which would have happened long after Stranger Things was already
a smash cultural phenomenon. That's I don't think it's settled, man, Okay,
(38:48):
And it never will be all right until the editor
tells me himself for herself that I'm just dead wrong. Okay.
If you want to settle a bet, you can get
in touch with us on Twitter at Josh M Clark,
at s Y s K podcast, or at movie Crush.
You can join Chuck on Facebook at Facebook dot com
slash Charles W. Chuck Bryant. You can also join us
(39:11):
on Facebook dot com slash Stuff. You should know to
send us an email to Stuff Podcast at how Stuff
Works dot com and has always joined us at Home
on the Web. Stuff you Should Know dot com For
more on this and thousands of other topics. Is It
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