David Sooby wrote: > Regarding the social convention of the "coming-out ceremony" (or > quinceañera) for girls: That is a relic of an era when the role of a > "proper" girl in society was to find the right man to marry. The fact > that the ceremony it has religious and even pre-Christian origins is > certainly relevant to the ceremony's traditions, but the actual > importance of the ceremony is social, not religious. It's announcing > to society "This girl is on the market for suitors, and eventually to > be married if a suitable match can be found." To be blunt, it's a > mating ritual— not a religious ceremony. Just how do you conceive of Paula Quinton handling a mating ritual? I can easily picture her turning the ceremony into a bacchanal event with actual copulation on the visual menu. She certainly isn't an upper class debutante.