Tijerales

On Monday I was discussing the weekend with some of my adult students and one of them mentioned a party that they gave for the workers that were doing some construction on the house. I inquired a little more about this custom and in turn I learned about the fiestas tijerales, a traditional party given for the workers when the support structure of the house is completed and a symbol of good luck.
The name comes from the Spanish word tijeral, which is framework or support trusses for the roof.  From what I gathered by reading and asking around a bit, the tradition seems to date back to the type of support beams that were used in the construction of churches, with the shape being similar to tijeras, or the Spanish word for scissors.
Typically when the workers finish with this phase of the construction, a typical Chilean flag is placed at the top to signal the homeowners to start preparing the feast, usually an asado, (barbecue). I asked Ita if she had a party when the casita was built, and she said "Obvio po!"