In Colombia, when a girl turns 15, she is considered to enter "womanhood." The fiesta de quince is a party to celebrate the transformation of a girl into a woman.
In Colombia, almost everyone celebrates this somehow. Not all fiestas de quince look the same, but almost everyone celebrates a girl's 15th brithday with some type of party because it is viewed as a very important milestone. Even families with very little money will take out loans or ask friends and family for help in order to throw their daughters a nice party. In cities like Leticia, which are lower-income, there are still many nice fiestas de quince.
