Stuff You Should Know - What's a quinceañera anyway?

Episode Date: May 15, 2018

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.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, what's up? This your boy Jerry Clark, and I am the host of Storytime with Legendary Jerry Podcast. For the last 30 years, I've worked with some of your favorite artists like Outkast, Killer Mike, Jeezy, Akon, Jermaine Dupri, and so many, many more. Storytime with Legendary Jerry is an ode to the South. Southern rap has had the game on lock for years, and now I'm telling you legendary stories of how we did it listen to story time with legendary jerry on the iheart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast the second season of el flow is here step into the ever-evolving world of reggaeton and get up close with both legendary figures and emerging talents in the industry part of the enormous significance of reggaeton is really the way in which personal narratives

connect to larger things going on historically and socially. Listen to El Flow on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chook Bryant and 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 very special day because today Jerry turns sweet 15. Right.

Well, technically it's her triple quinceañera. No, Jerry started producing the show when she was five. Oh, yeah. Remember, she was the wunderkind. She was a child prodigy. Threw a lot of temper tantrums. Yeah, but we got through that time. We did. The terrible fives. Child prodigy. Threw a lot of temper tantrums. Yeah, but we got through that time.

We did. The terrible fives. And now she's just a pretty little lady in her pink lacy satiny dress. Yeah, that dress is a lot even for a quinceañera dress, Jerry. Agreed. Can I go ahead and say I don't do the R-roll very well, so I'm just going to say quinceañera. Okay. Instead of quinceañera?

Yeah. That wasn't very good either. Right. I used to do a good R-roll because of German, but I feel like I've lost it a bit. And I guess it's actually an N-roll. Quinceañera. Oh, that was good. Right, yeah, but if I try to keep it up, I think it's going to fatigue everybody pretty quick, so quinceañera.

Well, and the last thing we want to be are two jackass white dudes. Well, that's what we're doing. Laying it on too thick. Two 40-something white dudes are about to talk about quinceaneras like we know what we're talking about. Well, we did the research, and 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 Sweet

16 or whatever that I might be complaining with, but I swear I've seen, like I knew some of this stuff somewhere. I don't know where though.. Somewhere, 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 Hispanic and Latino. I wanted to get it all right. Good, good. Let's hear what you got. Well, it says that they can generally be used interchangeably these days,

but I think Latino can, like, I think Hispanic refers to whether or not you actually have Spanish-speaking roots. Oh, is that right? But Latino can be like Brazil and places 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 for life. For life. Yep. With the number four. But at any rate, you know, lived in LA and there's, you know, a large Mexican population. So I would see Quintanillas going on all the time when you're just driving around on a weekend.

That's awesome. 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 10. And then somebody hit me in the head, and they're like, you dummy. You dumb white guy from the south.

That's a quinceaneras. Right. And so I was like, well, you know what? One day I'm going to do a podcast about that. They said, what is a podcast? To make up for all this. You said, just watch. That's right.

So one thing I saw was with Latino or Latina, there's that ingrained masculine. But something I saw pop up in a couple of sites was they would replace the O or the A with an X just to make it gender neutral. Like Latinx. Oh. Yeah, I don't know how you pronounce it. I didn't get that far, but I saw it in print in a couple different sites. Really? They were trying to remove the gender from, you know, Latino or Latina and just make it gender neutral.

you know, Latino or Latina and just make it gender neutral. Because there's a, I haven't seen it, but there's an HBO documentary about quinceañeras, and one of them is for a trans girl. Okay, would it be pronounced Latinks? Maybe. I mean, how... I have to see it written down. How is the X in, like, Oaxaca?

Isn't it, like, hua, hua? So maybe Latina? I have to see it written down. How is the X in, like, Oaxaca? Isn't it, like, hoa? So maybe latiwa? I have no idea. That's what 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 rails, shall we? I think what we just did was great, because we explored some questions we had. But now we can talk about everything we know about quinceaneras. Right, which is, we've been dancing around this thing.

This is the 15th birthday celebration for young ladies, young women, in Mexico, Puerto Rico, in Cuba, in the United States, kind of all over the world, this can take place. Yeah. Catholic, like the Catholicness of the girl and her even pre-Catholic origins bind together with what 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 quinceañera, which is a 15th birthday party, which is a coming out party for a girl as she transitions from 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 going to find at like every quinceañera that have a neat origin story to them or a neat symbolism to them. And also some great music, some delicious food, and 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, we'll go back in time. All right. So the origins of this, they date back all the way to the Aztec Indians. Obviously, in the 1400s and 1500s,

they were performing these festivals because girls back then were marriage-ready at the age of 15. That's kind of what it symbolized. Right, and it wasn't just the Aztecs. Around the world and cultures around the world, like 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 talking about how important it is to become a wise, upstanding member of society as a young woman. 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, a little more like debutante. Yeah, it's actually, I looked into this a little further, Chuck, and they can't say for certain where quinceañeras 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 40 years earlier. Wow. From another priest who had supposedly in the 1520s interviewed some Aztec high priests about their culture. So that's where the whole idea that there was a rite of passage at age 15 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 idea that 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 1960s, it was really kind of an upper class thing. But then in the 1960s, as Latinos immigrated to the United States and they became more part of American fabric, they really kind of spread throughout the U.S. and Latin America as becoming across all socioeconomic classes. And we'll get to this a little more later, but wonderfully, like you said, in poor communities, you see entire communities chipping in some money many times, or the

godmothers and godfathers, the padrinos and madrinas, you like that? Yeah, that's good. To help pay for this stuff um i saw this photographer did a really great photo series of uh quinceaneras celebrations in poor neighborhoods in mexico and photographed these really beautiful photographs of these these young women in their dresses sort of in the middle of a very depressed neighborhood. And just showing how important it was that they still had this celebration, even though it was a burden financially on their families. Right.

Yeah, I think Mexico City got together in 2007, and some of the businesses, some nonprofit groups, held like a big mass quinceañera. And now they do it every year for girls who wouldn't otherwise be able to have one. Yeah, I also read a New York Times article where there's a lot of bias like when it comes to things like this and bar and bat mitzvahs and debutante balls. and bat mitzvahs and debutante balls where it's very easy for someone to say, like, you know, if you're poor living in Mexico City, why are you wasting, and that's in 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 mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs or debutantes,

for bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs or debutantes, regardless of socioeconomic status. So this is just a very important part of their culture that shouldn't be looked down upon just because they may not have the kind of money to throw a big one. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, and I'm sure. One of the things, though, you just kind of hit on the head is that it's a, it's a, it's a part of Latinx culture, which is one reason why it's

become so big in America. It's a way of 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 Latina heritage, they have come over time to kind of meld together with what Americans look at and say, that's just one enormous Sweet Sixteen party. Right.

But there's some details in there that you'll find at a quinceañera that you won't at a sweet 16 party. And we'll talk about those right after this. Well done. This second season of El Flow is here, available como a ti te guste, in both English and Spanish. This season, we dive deeper

into the vibrant world of reggaeton, featuring interviews with both reggaeton legends and exciting new talents. He's the undisputed king of reggaeton, no doubt. And he's been cited as an inspiration by multiple Latin stars, including J Balvin, Bad Bunny, Osuna, Antima Tasha. Explore the evolution of this dynamic genre and what makes it resonate globally. How you consume reggaeton, how you share and distribute reggaeton, those are all an important part of the story.

It's the way that the people are experiencing reggaeton along with the musicians. Listen to El Flow as part of the My Cultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I am the ferryman. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. you death? This road is not on any map. How much for a ticket? All I ask for in payment is a tail. These are the tails that shaped the nation. I don't know who got to Kennedy first. The devastation those first bombs caused. Then I told them they were drinking cyanide. Featuring the voices of Wes Studi. At least 4,000 people died on the trail. Martin Starr. President Nixon called me the most dangerous man in America. Scott Hayes. Next thing I know, I'm standing over the bodies of Baker Morton.

My pistol's smoking in my hand. And Tristan Mack Wilds. I've never been to hell, but I know intimately the hymns of the damned. Starring Dan Fogler as the ferryman. This is The Passage. Listen to The Passage now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. All right, Charles.

So we are going to start the day. It's a frantic day. It's a hectic day. From everything I understand, from what I've read, this is actually like a cool day for a girl, but also very stressful, right? Yeah, it's like a wedding or a prom or anything where there's a lot of pressure on this one, you know, six-hour experience. But think about this.

With a wedding, you've got your SO 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 prom's already being planned for you by your school or whatever. This is like your day and part of your responsibility is the quinceañera, which by the way, quinceañera literally translates

to the girl who is 15. Yeah. So this is technically your fiesta de quinceañera or something like that. Right. Part of your responsibility as quinceañera 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, 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. All 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 going to find a normal American, like say sweet 16 party.

No. And it depends on the church where you're going to have. And, you know, sometimes the celebration also occurs at the church. Sometimes that occurs at a different spot, kind of like a wedding. You know, sometimes you'll have the reception somewhere else. Right. That's not how it started, which we'll talk about that in a minute, but go ahead. But it depends on 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 what to expect. Right. Well, yeah, that's about it as far as the weeks ahead part, as far as the church goes. 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 a wedding.

You have the ceremony of the church and then the event elsewhere. Well, you can. Right. And that's becoming more and more the way. in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Archdiocese issued like a set of guidelines that basically put the kibosh on this idea of the quinceañera as a big, lavish affair. And it really dampened this burgeoning, I guess, industry or tradition or whatever. It put a damper on it for a little while because families didn't want to go against the church. So they kind of toned down the quinceañeras. But the reason the church is doing this is because there were too many quinceañeras, not enough Spanish-speaking priests. And then also the

Catholic church has always had an awkward position in this tradition. It's not a Catholic tradition. It's a cultural tradition by a group of people who are predominantly Catholic and involve the church as part of this tradition. But this tradition, if anything, is a syncretized tradition. Remember when we were in Guatemala, the melding of Catholic beliefs and like pagan pre-colonial beliefs, indigenous beliefs is syncretism. This is an example of that. There's like Aztec rituals supposedly mixed with this. The whole thing starts at a Catholic church with a mass.

So the church has kind of had an alternately hands-on and hands-off view of this whole thing. And in 1990, they almost put a complete damper on it. But since then, it's just kind of said, okay, we'll just start off at the church and we'll have the party afterward elsewhere. Yeah, and I've also seen that a lot of churches now are straying away from these because they feel like there's just a lot of disrespectful behavior,

like, you know, people partying on the pews and taking pictures with their phone and texting. And, 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 15-year birthday party in an actual church, that's a terrible idea to begin with. It's probably a bad idea. So it makes sense to do this kind of solemn ceremony at the church and then party elsewhere, which I think is pretty much par for the course these days. All right. So before the mass takes place, this young woman has, and Kristen Conger, remember Kristen? Of course.

What's the name of their podcast? Unladylike. Unladylike, that's right. Yeah, Kristen Caroline, formerly of Stuff Mom Never Told You, now with Unladylike. She wrote this article and she said that Custom calls for 14 damas or maiden attendants to represent the 14 years of her life up until that point. I saw elsewhere seven. That's what I saw too. To be paired with seven young men. You want to pronounce that?

Chambalons? Yeah, that's how I took it. Chambalons. Chambalons. I read in another place, I was like, well, wait a minute, which is it? And it apparently can be seven to 15. So depending on, I guess, how many really close friends you have, kind of like picking out your bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Yeah, and I saw plenty of videos of quinceañeras where there were three girls, four. Yeah, there's some lemur. Yeah, but I think under strict tradition of the quinceañera, you would have 14 girls and 15 dudes. You got 14 damas, 15 chambranes, and then one, I got it, and then one chambrane de honor,

which I totally messed up, but it's basically the escort of honor who is the quinceañera's date. That's right. And again, I'm sure that there's some leeway. The quinceañera cops aren't going to come by because you don't have enough friends helping you. They have larger fish to fry on quinceañera day.

Right. Although whoever is helping you plan this would probably love it if you had 14 guys and 14 girls because they all have to be outfitted. Oh, yeah. 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. Traditionally, it's either pink or white, very satiny. I mean, it looks kind of like a prom dress, a big frilly floor-length gown. But that also is eight feet wide. Yeah, exactly.

At the waist, like out. It's extraordinary. It's like a princess dress. Yeah. Like I want a quinceañera. Oh, we can throw you one, buddy. Okay. You want to do that?

Sure. You want to get all pretty for the camera? I definitely would. You'll find a nice dress. All right. So the first stop, You want to get all pretty for the camera? I definitely would. You'll find a nice dress. All right. So the first stop, though, like you said, is the church. And this is where a lot of the ceremony takes place. They receive a blessing from a priest.

The young woman commits herself to protecting her virginity and her spiritual devotion. And then they leave a bouquet of flowers near the Virgin Mary statue. 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 teddy bear or something else that just meant something to the girl. One thing I saw was a quinceañera Barbie. Oh, yeah? Mm-hmm.

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 Ultima Muneca? Oh, I don't know. I didn't see that. Ultima Muneca. It means the last doll. Okay. And it shows that she's leaving girlhood behind.

Right. And you can guess 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. Yeah. So, that may or may not happen at the church. The thing that seems to be what definitely happens at the church is the girl is presented with a rosary, a prayer book, or a Bible, 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 girl has been blessed. Sometimes it's part of a regular mass, like she may stand up and come up to the altar and get a special blessing. If her parents are pulling all the right strings, maybe she can get her own mass for it. But she may also be sharing that mass with other quinceañeras. 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 thanks for the blessing, I'm outie 5,000, she's heading off to the party. That's right. Get that, just like a good wedding,

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? All right. Look at her trying to stuff that dress in that. One of the best shows of the year, according to Apple, Amazon and Time, is back for another round. We have more insightful conversations between myself, Paul Muldoon, and Paul McCartney about his life and career. This season, we're diving deep into some of McCartney's most beloved songs. Yesterday,

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to your favorite shows. Okay, Chuck, so she 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 quinceañera party. Yeah, I mean, it could be, it really depends on the budget of the family involved. They could rent out a large hall or they could, it could be in the backyard of their own home or at a friend's house. Yeah. And again, this is not just on the parent's shoulders. It's very customary and very traditional for the girl to approach family members, members of the business community, just anybody she can think of to say, hey, costs are really adding up, and can you chip in a little bit?

And the quinceañera will be sponsored by multiple people besides just her parents. Yeah, and 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 said, for 15 years. Oh, man. Like they started socking away money every year because they knew this was coming.

That is so great. And it was important. It was a very sweet story. Yeah, I think the aspect that, you know, the community chips in and also comes to like witness this girl's transition to adulthood. I just really appreciate that. I 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 is such a important, revered thing.

And it's something I'm envious of, you know? Yeah, for sure. So when the girl gets there, the first thing that's going to happen is the music's going to be starting and her court's going to come in and get introduced. Those are the damas and the chambelains. 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 know. That's what I'm saying. It's, I'm not sure. I don't know the origins of that word. Okay. So those two, her court, they're going to come in one by one and get announced virtually just like a wedding when the bride and groom show up. The groomsmaids.

No, the bride. Groomsmaids. The groomsmen and the bridesmaids. Yes. Come on, man. Bear with me. You're hanging in there. They get introduced, you know, one by one as they're coming in.

And then finally the honorary escort is introduced. And then you finally have the Quinceañera come in. And the music changes and she's like raising the roof, you know. And the party's just, everyone erupts into just 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 mariachi music.

It could be. It could be like with my wedding, I had an iPod loaded up with my mix and just hit play. Nice. So this is probably a DJ with a light system and a dance floor. All the videos I saw are very much like that. Yeah. So the court's been introduced. And then one of the first things that happens is the girl is presented with a crown. is the girl is presented with a crown. Mm-hmm, tiara. She's presented with a scepter. So, for the killing.

Right, for the bashing. Yeah, that comes later. And then, right, the ritual, the ritual killing of the chipmunk. 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, 70s chair? Oh, yeah. That, like, flared out those like wicker, remember the wicker like 70s chair? Oh, yeah.

Like flared out and up. Yeah. That looked kind of like this. Yeah. Maybe she's sitting on one of those. But she's basically the center of attention right now. And something kind of cool happens. The shoes she was wearing that she came in with flat-soled sandals or slippers or something

like that, her dad comes over and takes those off. And then he puts on high heels and snaps his fingers, twirls, and goes, she's a woman. Yes, and I bet you anything this young lady has practiced walking in those before. Right. I don't think she would want her first experience in high heels to be in that dress on the big day.

It's just logical Chuck talking. Although it would be fun to watch. Oh, no, come on. You don't think it would be? No one wants to see a, what do they, Kristen said they call her Keen's girls sometimes. Yeah. No one wants to see a Keen's girl fall over. It's true.

Except you. But you got laughed at while you did the backstroke, so I get it. Yeah. No one wants to see a Keene'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. They may also get gifts, but not always. A lot of times they're symbolic gifts. A lot of times other people will bring gifts. But from the parents, the 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 regalo sorpresa, which is a surprise gift on top of everything else. And this, of course, is including, like you mentioned, the prayer book and the rosary and the Bible and stuff like that. Right. And those are probably given to her at the church before. I'm thinking that depending on the position of her parents socioeconomically, the girl's probably getting other presents too.

Yeah. But yes, supposedly just the quinceañera party is like, this is plenty, don't you think? Yeah, but I think the gifts, too, also always represent that transition into adulthood. So she's not getting the dolls anymore. She gets maybe some jewelry or earrings and stuff like that. Stuff to deliver her into womanhood. And then guests are also given gifts as well. Sure, party favors. The way that the whole thing's set up, even though the community, like, might have people that chip in or family members or whatever, the parents are saying, like, come help celebrate our daughter's transition into womanhood, right?

So the party is meant as, like, a gift for the guests. Right. And so the thing is kind of meant to be like, come and get your eat on and your drink on and just have a lot of fun. The thing is, is part of that welcomeness and that inclusiveness and that, you know, please come and be a part of this, that backfired really hard for this one couple.

Have you heard about Ruby Ibarra-Garcia? No. Oh, my. So, Ruby Ibarra-Garcia turned 15 on December 26, 2016. Okay. Okay, just like a year or so ago. And she is from La Jolla, which is in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. And it's a little tiny town, 200.

And her parents decided to get with the times and make like a YouTube invitation, a video invitation to come to Ruby's Quinceanera. But they posted it on YouTube and they didn't put any privacy settings on. And it went viral. And 20,000 people from around the world showed up to Ruby's quinceañera party in this little town of 200. That's kind of great, though, right?

It was great on the one hand, but if you look at the photos from it, she was very much overwhelmed the entire time. Yeah, that's true. Was not expecting it. Apparently, like, on Facebook, like, over a million people said they were coming, but even still, 20's true. We're doing this. And they did it. They stepped up and met their, or they kept their welcome to everybody, I guess, is a way to put it. That's kind of great. But I can definitely see on the day that the girl might have been overwhelmed. But I bet she also, in retrospect, is 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. Are you serious? Yeah. I literally couldn't tell if you were just being jokey Josh there. No, I didn't even need to be that time. So Chevy got involved, of course. I think her parents gave her that.

Oh, I figured Chevy was like, hey, let's get some good press out of this. I think that was her regalo sorpresa. Her surprise gift? Yes. Wow. And speaking of sorpresas, that was Yumi's Spanish name, by the way. But speaking of sorpresas, there's also, Chuck, go on to YouTube and type in baile sorpresa, B-A-I-L-E, sorpresa, and just start watching these videos. Because the baile sorpresa is one of the hallmarks of the quinceañera party. And they are about as adorable and embarrassing

as you can imagine. What does that mean, though? What is it? Oh, it's a surprise dance. So, it's like for months ahead of time, the quinceañera 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 a surprise dance. It's like part of the quinceañera. And they're very cute to watch. And so they try to have fun with it, I guess. They do, but they also are really, they're very earnest about it too.

Like they practice this dance and they're doing it. And it's very cute. That's wonderful. You can also hire shambolains, professional ones. They're all like dancers by trade. So they'll like really knock your socks off your guests. But it's, you know, it's lacking 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 Abdul or something. Yeah. Yeah. Like her. She's still choreographing, right? Yeah. Choreographing? Choreographing. Something's bad wrong with us today. I know, man. You got anything else? I do. This is a little sorpresa for you, my friend. There was a father in Texas a couple of years ago that spent $6 million

on his 15-year-old daughter. Oh, my. What's his name here? He's an attorney named Thomas J. Henry of San Antonio. They're a 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. Good for her. Although that is kind of ordinary these days, thankfully. To be a well-known teen activist? Well, to be active. Sure. Yeah. But at her quinceanera, she had Nick Jonas perform, Pitbull perform.

Sure. Let me see what else here. A 55,000 square foot space that they built. I don't think they built it from scratch, but it does say that it was built, purpose-built venue. How many guests? 600 guests. Man. A 30-foot-tall cherry trees, a 30-foot-tall cherry trees in full blossom.

Wow. Walls of roses, a garden room, the ballroom with butterflies suspended from the ceiling. She wore a Rolando Santana dress, which means nothing to me. Yeah, me either. But I assume that means it's something. She had her makeup done by Patrick Ta, who does the Kardashians. Her photographer was Michelle Obama's photographer. And Thomas Henry and his wife, whose name is Azteca, beautiful name,

they hired a New York social event planner named David Mon. He had a 150-person team to 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,

he spent $4 million on that kid's 18th birthday, I believe. Que sorpresa. So they dropped $10 million on a couple of parties for their kids. Man. And the girls in Mexico city are happy to, to be part of the citywide annual one. I wonder what pit bull got paid for that. A mil.

Uh, maybe. I bet Nick Jonas got more than pit bull did. You think? Yeah. And of course she had her, her pictures, uh,

with both of them. And well, I'm sure that was part of it. It's like, uh, yeah, man. All right. Well, sure. I'm sure that was part of it. Yeah. Man. All right. Well, that is something. What's her name?

Maya? Yeah. Maya Henry. Oh, I got to look that up. If you want to know more about quinceañeras, well, just show up to one uninvited. See how that goes. You know what? You'd probably be welcomed.

Probably, Chuck, probably. And since I said probably a couple times, it's time for listener mail. Hey, guys. Long-time listener, card-carrying member of the Stuff You Should Know Army. Always wanted to write in, but just hadn't found the right topic until the It Stranger Things script retooling debate. That was during emojis. Stephen King is by far my favorite author, and It is my script retooling debate. Those during emojis. 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. Though I have no media experience, I do have an MBA and know a thing or two about marketing. For what it's worth, I side with Josh, 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 changed the setting of the film to take place in the 80s, like Stranger Things. In the novel, the story follows the main characters in the 50s, and then again as adults in the 80s. There were elements of the story that didn't translate as well into the 80s, 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 i always catch

movie crush keep it up mike sanders uh and mike i i did a very simple Google search and found that Stranger Things was released in July 2016. 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 that that settles it, if you ask me. So you think they shot a bunch of the movie in the 1950s and said, wait a minute, this TV show over here is doing great. No, no, no, no, no. Let's go make it the 80s. No, I don't think that.

And let's recast this kid that we've already cast. I think that they did retool. I do. After they started shooting. Yeah, I don't think they were shooting in the 50s. I think that they did Retool. I do. After they started shooting. Yeah, I don't think they were shooting in the 50s. I think they were probably shooting in the 80s. 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 the book It. And that they plumped up that stuff because of Stranger Things. That's my assertion.

So as they're shooting the film It. They're doing rewrites. They're doing rewrites because they're like, man, we got to lock 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. All right. I don't think it's settled, man.

Okay. And it never will be. All right. Until the editor tells me himself or 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 SYSK Podcast or at Movie Crush. You can join Chuck on Facebook at Facebook.com slash Charles W. Chuck Bryant. You can also join us on Facebook.com slash Stuff You Should Know.

Send us an email to StuffPodcast at HowStuffWorks.com. And as always, join us at our home on the web, StuffYouShouldKnow.com. And as always, join us at our home on the web, stuffyoushouldknow.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit howstuffworks.com. Hey, what's up? This is your boy, Jerry Clark, and I am the host of Storytime with Legendary Jerry Podcast. For the last 30 years, I have worked with some of your favorite artists like Outkast, Killer Mike, Jeezy, Akon, Jermaine Dupri, and so many, many more.

Storytime with Legendary Jerry is an ode to the South. Southern rap has had the game on lock for years, and now I'm telling you legendary stories of how we did it. Listen to Storytime with Legendary Jerry on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. One of the best shows of the year, according to Apple, Amazon, and Time, is Back 4 and Other Round.

We had a big bear of a land. It was called Mal Evans. It was on roadie. And I was coming back on the plane. And he said, will you pass the salt and pepper? And I misheard him. I said, what? Salt and pepper?

Listen to season two of McCartney, A Life in Lyrics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.