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Clothing, spectacle, and display in a girl’s First Communion

From Wikipedia:

“Communion is most often first received by children around the age of seven or eight, when they have reached the age of reason…

Traditions surrounding First Communion usually include large family gatherings and parties to celebrate the child’s First Communion; special clothing is usually worn. The clothing is often white, to symbolize purity. Girls, especially, wear fancy dresses and often a veil attached to a headdress, as well as white gloves (long or short). In some communities in the United States the practice of buying a special dress for First Communion is becoming increasingly extravagant, with prices sometimes in excess of $200. In other communities it is more common for girls to wear dresses that have been passed down to them from their sisters or mothers, or even simply use their school uniforms plus the veiled headdress and gloves.

Many families will also take this opportunity to have formal, professional photographs taken, in addition to the many candid snapshots of the day.”

The photographer Lauren Greenfield touches on this, and many other rituals for girls, in her book Girl Culture.

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