In a girl’s 15 years old birthday party, in  Brazilian culture, normally the parents give their daughter a ring. It means the girl is going into a new step in her life. All of my cousins got a ring when they turned 15, but I was not in Brazil anymore when I turned 15 (I was in the United States), so my father couldn’t give me the family ring, which passed to another cousin.  And he couldn’t hold or a party for me either. My mother though, she was working on the day of my birthday and she knew I was sad since I couldn’t be with my whole family and so when she came home from work she had a gift for me. My mother gave  me a ring from her old collection on my 15th birthday, the same ring she got from her mother when she turned 15 years old. It wasn’t a family tradition, but it meant something to me because I knew she wanted to make me happy on that day. It was one of the best gifts I could ever receive and I’ll for sure give it to my future daughter when she turns 15 years old and tell her the story of that gold ring. Hopefully my future daughter will give the same ring to my granddaughter too, and so my  granddaughter will do the same, and this story can keep going with the family. 

– G

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant