David Magallanes
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By David Magallanes / Guest contributor
Ancient Rome’s Vestal Virgins were chosen at a ceremony known as a “captio.” They were destined to work on behalf of society and to perform religious rites. They were considered powerful and influential. Upon retirement after 30 years of service, an arrangement was made for her to marry a Roman nobleman.
When an American young lady is presented to the world as a debutante, she is given her moment on the stage as she lights up society with her smile and balances herself on high heels as she clutches dark red roses, the very symbol of femininity. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, the debutante, assumed correctly or not to be a virgin, was formally introduced to society at a “reception and tea,” a formal ritual that was, according to author Karal Ann Marling, “Queen Victoria’s courts, minus the Queen.” [i] Marling writes that the tea won the debutante “her freedom to enter upon three years of relentless calling, card-leaving, balls, receptions, dinners, the theatre, weddings, funerals, and décolletage at the opera. And when it was all over, there was to be an approved marriage between the deb and a man of her family’s circle.” [ii] The father of the debutante gained considerable status as he displayed his wealth and influence through his daughter.
A Mexican girl, at the age of puberty, might well be presented to her society as a virginal representation of her family’s relative wealth and standing in the community as she kneels before the altar promising her adherence to Catholic teachings and morality during a ritual that bears the weight of centuries, the Roman Catholic Mass. This is the celebration of her quinceañera — her 15th birthday. Ostensibly she is encouraged to continue her education and help the community, but the underlying message is that she will soon become a wife and mother, her role in the eyes of the patriarchy that supervises her.
The cult of virginity continues to be a powerful, though muted, force in our society.
[i] Debutante—Rites and Regalia of American Debdom, University Press of Kansas, 2004, p. 39
[ii] Ibid., pp. 56-57
— David Magallanes is a writer, speaker and retired professor of mathematics. You may contact him at adelantos@msn.com.