My name is Wilf. I am a photographer from London, England. Last year, I went to the United States to take photographs of city parks. One Saturday, I was at Central Park in New York City. I noticed a large, happy group of people taking photographs in front of a fountain .

It was a charming scene—green grass, the falling water of the fountain, and eight very pretty young women. One of the young women wore a long white dress. She had flowers in her hair. The other young women wore pink.

I started taking photographs, too. I spoke to one of the people near me, “Did the wedding just finish?” He looked at me strangely and he asked, “What wedding?”

The celebration was for the young woman in white. It was her fifteenth birthday. Her family was originally from Mexico. Their celebration was a quincean era. This is the time when Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and other Central American girls traditionally become adults. A quincean era looks like a wedding. People wear formal clothes. There are many guests and there is a special cake. But there is no groom !

我叫威尔弗，是来自英国伦敦的一位摄影师。去年，我前往美国拍摄一些城市公园的照片。那是一个星期六，我来到纽约的中央公园，看到一大圈人正兴高采烈地在一座喷泉前面照相。

这是一幅多么迷人的场景啊——翠绿的草地，喷泉的流水，还有八位楚楚动人的妙龄女郎。其中一个姑娘身穿白色长裙，头上插着鲜花，其他的女孩子则穿着粉色的裙子。

我也开始跟着拍照，并问身边的一个人：“婚礼刚刚结束吗？”他诧异地看着我，问道：“什么婚礼呀？”

这个庆典是为了那个身穿白衣的年轻姑娘举行的，这一天是她十五岁生日，她的家庭是墨西哥裔。庆祝仪式名叫“quincean era”，是墨西哥、古巴、波多黎各还有其他中美洲国家中女孩传统的成人典礼。“quinceanera”看上去就像是婚礼一样，人们都穿着比较正式的服装，宾客满堂，还有一个特殊的蛋糕，但是没有新郎！