Sweet sixteen (birthday)
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2008) |
 |
A sweet sixteen party is a type of birthday party in the United States and Canada, usually celebrating a girl's sixteenth birthday. Sweet Sixteen parties were once given as a celebration of the girl's virginity, but are now more generally a coming of age celebration. Although much less common, sweet sixteen parties have been held for boys.
Types of sweet sixteen party
A Sweet Sixteen, like a wedding, can be extremely formal, casual, or semi-formal. Sweet Sixteens can range from a simple house party or dinner party at a restaurant to large affairs with a hired DJ, makeup and hair stylists, and renting out yachts and hotel ballrooms. Large and formal Sweet Sixteens are featured prominently on MTV's TV show, "My Super Sweet Sixteen." This show is very popular among teenage girls.
Traditions
Candle-lighting ceremony
Each of the 16 candles holds a special meaning. The first candle is for the girl's parents. The second candle is for the siblings. (If there are no siblings, then this candle can represent the grandparents.) Candles 3, 4, 5 and 6 are for the rest of the family members. Candles 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 are for friends. Candle 15 is for the girl's best friend or friends. The 16th candle is for a significant male, such as a boyfriend or good friend. Some add a 17th candle which represents good luck.
Shoe ceremony
The shoe ceremony is common at Sweet Sixteen parties, although they are more often seen in Quinceañeras. In this ceremony, the birthday girl sits down in a chair while her grandfather or father approaches her with high heels on a decorative pillow. The girl would traditionally be wearing flat shoes, such as slippers, and the father ceremoniously helps her into her new high heels. This is symbolic of the girl transitioning into a woman.[1]
Tiara ceremony
This ceremony is similar to the shoe ceremony, except the father/grandfather approaches with a tiara instead of shoes. He places it on the birthday girl's head to symbolize her becoming a woman. Sometimes this is combined with the shoe ceremony, so that two people approach the birthday girl, one with a pillow with high heels, and the other with a pillow with a tiara.[1]
Father-daughter dance
The Father-Daughter Dance is a tradition that is also frequently performed at weddings. The girl and her father dance to a slow song while everyone sits and watches.
Video montage
At high end Sweet Sixteens, a DJ often brings along several televisions or a projector to show a video montage set to music of the birthday girl containing pictures starting from when she was a baby and getting older, usually ending with pictures of her in her Sweet Sixteen dress. This is either made by the DJ with photos provided from the family of the birthday girl, by the parents, by a sibling, or by the birthday girl herself. The guests can either sit down and watch this montage, or it could be playing in the background while the guests dance.
Counterparts in other cultures
Latin American cultures
Many Latin American cultures celebrate a girl's fifteenth birthday with a Quinceañera. In Brazil, these events are called Baile de Debutantes (Debutante). In some cases, Brazilian girls have their own party, like the Sweet Sixteen, but at age of 15.
Jewish culture
In traditional Judaism, girls reach the age of spiritual maturity at the age of 12 (with their bat mitzvah), compared to boys who reach the age of spiritual maturity at 13 (with their bar mitzvah). Many practitioners of Reform Judaism have adopted the Catholic custom of a confirmation ceremony, sometimes celebrated on the girl's sixteenth birthday.
Asian culture
When young Filipina girls turn 18 they have a Philippine Debut.
In popular culture
Film and television
- The 1984 film Sixteen Candles features a coming of age story as the lead character, Samantha Baker, turns sixteen.
- In the anime series Robotech, the 8th episode is called "Sweet Sixteen". It deals with the character Lynn Minmay's 16th birthday.
- The TV series 6teen featured an episode entitled "Sweet 6teen".
- Many episodes of the reality TV series My Super Sweet 16 involves the planning and throwing of a sweet sixteen party.
- The 2007 film "Super Sweet 16: The Movie" handled the issue of a girl of a wealthy family struggling to get her super sweet 16 party held properly.
Music
- "16 Candles" - recorded by the Crests and several other artists, including Roy Orbison
- "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" - Neil Sedaka
- "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More 'Touch Me'" - Fall Out Boy
- "Sixteen" - on No Doubt's album Tragic Kingdom
- "Sweet Little Sixteen" - Chuck Berry
- "Sweet Sixteen" - Billy Idol, it references a lost love of Edward Leedskalnin.[citation needed]
- "Sweet Sixteen" (no connection to the Billy Idol version) - Hilary Duff, it later became the theme song for MTV's reality show "My Super Sweet 16".
- "You're Sixteen" - written by the Sherman Brothers, recorded by Johnny Burnette, Ringo Starr and others.
- "Only Sixteen" recorded - Sam Cooke
- "It Hurts To Be Sixteen" - Andrea Carroll
- "Sweet Sixteen" - Mikey Dread