A young girl’s quinceañera, a coming of age celebration marked by her 15th birthday, is a big deal in Mexico; but no one expected 14-year-old Rubi Ibarra Garcia’s quinceañera to be quite this big.
It all started with a Facebook video, showing Rubi in a tiara, embraced by her parents as her father invites friends and family to celebrate the day with them.
“We invite you this 26th of December to the 15th birthday party of our daughter, Rubi Ibarra Garcia,” said her father, Crescencio Ibarra, in the video. “All are cordially invited.”
But here’s the problem: The video was posted to Rubi’s Facebook profile under the “Public” setting, which means anyone can see it. And, sure enough, the video went viral and more than 1.2 million people took Rubi’s father’s polite invitation very literally and RSVP’d to the party.
The viral party invitation, which included information about the three bands set to preform and a horse race, has now spawned hundreds of memes and mentions on social media, as millions of Mexicans and people from around the world gear up for the quinceañera of a lifetime.
“At first I found this whole thing very funny, but I think it got out of control,” Rubi wrote on Facebook this week. “The thing is, I really don’t know why you all thought that all of Mexico was invited.”
In an interview with the BBC, her father said he only meant to invite neighbours from their local village of La Joya, with a population of just 10,000. However, he confirmed “all would be welcome.”
But not everyone thinks the viral party is a laughing matter. According to The Washington Post, state lawmaker Roberto Segovia told local media outlets he wants to deploy the Red Cross and state civil defense personnel around the perimeter of the village in the event things get out of hand.
“This is a phenomenon the family was not expecting,” Segovia said. “We contacted them to help them manage the security and relief organizations so that the event comes out the best it can.”
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