For every girl in Paraguay her 15th birthday is something to look forward to.

Every child is given a large party for their 1st birthday. Then for girls there is a second birthday that needs to be marked with a big party and celebration.

This is her 15th birthday. The traditional coming of age party. Boys unfortunately only get a 1st birthday and then no more big parties until their wedding.

It is a chance to be dressed up in finery for a day. Also for all the friends and family get together for a celebration.

With school now continuing until 18 years of age it no longer represents to arrival of adulthood but is still an important date both by tradition and by culture.

Yesterday it was the turn of Eva to celebrate her 15th birthday.

Rather than the lavish event that is sometimes thrown the day was a much more intimate and relaxed affair with guests limited to relatives and the very closest of friends. The countryside setting also helped to add to the very enjoyable atmosphere.

Furthermore this being mid winter the party was very wisely held in the afternoon rather than at night which would be the custom at warmer times of year.

For Eva the day started early. First on the list of things to do was a trip to the hairdressers. Not for a haircut. Instead for hair and makeup to be done professionally for the day. There would be a large number of photos to pose for.

From there the next stop was the little country chapel just along the track. There the local priest said a mass for her and the first of many sets of photographs were taken.

The religious part of the celebration was therefore attended to before everything else.

From there it was onto the house. Most of those at the mass traveled on to the party. Then over the next hour or so the rest of the guests gradually arrived.

Tables were set out in the front garden for everyone and the cake arrived and was placed on a table under the covered house porch. There could be surround by handfuls of sweets and small cakes and was under cover should the weather turn.

As the guests arrived there was a steady flow of people to be photographed by the cake with Eva. Either simply posing or being photoed handing her a present in a gift bag. This took a while as no one could be neglected from the photo shoot.

Once all the guests had arrived everyone took their seats around the open air tables. Here they were all served with a very good and sizable barbecue lunch that had been slowly cooking behind the scenes all morning.

After the meat came the cake. Firstly the sweets and cakes from around the main cake. Or at least most of them. The youngest of the children had been making their own selection from the tables for a while.

The very youngest of them a little girl had the cleverest idea of all. She found a plastic bag into which she could tip what she had collected.

There were still ample to go round as extra sweets are always put out and small children always encouraged to go and help themselves.

After that there was just one more item to be handed out. Eva worked her way around the tables with a sack containing a little party bag for each of the women and girls.

The formalities over the rest of the afternoon and evening were for partying.

Initially while everyone digested the large meal they had just eaten everything was quite quiet.

Men and women sat apart in two single sex groups. The women discussed how well the day had gone and their children while the men made a start on the beer.

Once everyone was rested the focus returned to the birthday cake. A few more group photos. Then the girls all gathered round it to sing Happy Birthday before pulling out the 15 threads that had been put into it to see who got the lucky one.

Then the cake was cut and handed round. The celebrations were as was planned all going very well with a small crowd of happy guests.

The next item on the agenda was the birthday waltz. Flowers had been given to 15 uncles and cousins and now as the birthday waltz played they took it in turn to have a dance with the birthday girl.

As tradition requires they left their flower with her so that after 15 dancers she had quite a handful.

That was the end of the formal celebration and now everyone could relax and look back upon what a good and successful on it had been.

Now for the rest of the day it was simply a party with much music and dancing. Now some people took the opportunity to change out of parry dress into more comfortable clothes in which to dance.

Along with the dancing the flow of drinks also increased. Although there was no competitive drinking going on anyone with an empty glass soon found it refilled.

The dancing on the front patio was initially being done by two very distinct groups. The youngsters having a very energetic school disco on one side and their parents dancing more sedately on the other.

The division did not last too long however. Soon all had blended together and were dancing as one.

With the beer and energy of the teenagers as the evening progressed various dance crazes would break out for a few minutes at a time. Everyone young and old joined in and got fully into the spirit of the day.

The party having started at lunch time was never planned to continue all night. And after dark the temperature began to descend. Also the forecast heavy rain was looking more and more likely.

So as it was about 8 pm the party started to wind down. The first guests left and over the next half hour the others gradually departed all heading home before the weather changed.

I then headed home myself and it was not long at all before the heavens opened and the rain began to pour down.

The day as planned went very well and everyone headed off home happy and satisfied. They will all remember Evas 15th for years to come. As will she.