A life in Mexico: the milestones and how they're marked

Coming of age

• The quinceañera (at 15) — A girl's fifteenth birthday: a mass, a full-skirted dress, a waltz with her father, the last doll, and a party paid for by a dozen godparents.

Remembrance

• Día de Muertos — The first days of November, when families build an altar for their dead, spend a night in the cemetery, and nobody is sad: the dead are back for a visit.