Padrinos

In Hispanic Catholic practice, padrinos (male sponsors) or madrinas (female sponsors) are designated to sponsor specific religious occasions, including baptism, wedding, and quinceañera. At a quinceañera, multiple padrinos roles each sponsor a specific symbolic gift presented during the Mass: padrino or madrina de honor (the principal sponsors), padrinos de la medalla (the religious medal), padrinos del rosario (the rosary), padrinos de la Biblia (the Bible), padrinos del ramo (the bouquet offered to the Virgin Mary), padrinos de la corona (the tiara), and others by family tradition. At a wedding, padrinos de boda sponsor the arras (thirteen coins), the lazo (a cord placed over the couple), and other ceremonial elements. Padrinos roles are family-set rather than canonically regulated for these occasions, since neither the quinceañera nor the wedding-specific padrinos roles fall under CIC c. 874.