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This paper analyzes the discursive practice of piropos performed by construction workers and addressed to female pedestrians in Bogotá, Colombia. Following an interactional sociolinguistic approach, the paper investigates the distinctive features of the piropo practice within this group. The investigators collected 87 naturalistic interactions and 40 interviews of speakers using ethnographic techniques. The analysis includes the study of the content and the form of piropos along with body language and the general performance of the speaker and the addressee. The results show that the speakers follow the patterns of piropo interactions in the Hispanic culture, even though they use specific features for the preparatory acts, the enunciation, and the offset of piropos. The observational data suggest that the practice is grounded on machismo ideologies that trigger public deployment of masculinity. On the other hand, interview data display speakers' perceptions of piropos as a flirtatious activity and a verbal game. The paper provides naturalistic evidence of the piropo practice in a Hispanic context and contributes to the discussion of gender roles in the public space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este trabajo se pregunta por qué los habitantes y líderes de la ciudad de Bogotá (Colombia) perciben la ausencia de un festival desde hace más de 150 años. Argumenta que desde hace unos 40 años la ciudad tiene una fiesta popu- lar: el Halloween. A través de su seguimiento en la prensa, muestra la forma como se importó y se popularizó hasta constituirse en una celebración in- tergeneracional e interclasista a finales de los años 70. Analiza la manera en que distintos sectores sociales han intentado apropiarse de ella y defi- nir su sentido, pero cómo conserva su carácter polisémico y abierto. A partir de un trabajo de campo realizado desde 1997, intenta una interpretación del Halloween en Bogotá como ritual y carnaval del consumo capitalista y muestra los cambios de la fiesta en relación con las transformaciones socio- espaciales de la ciudad en estos últimos 30 años. Finalmente, se pregunta por el intento de apropiación de dicha fiesta por parte de la actual adminis- tración distrital en su esfuerzo por inventar una fiesta popular para la ciudad. Palabras clave: fiesta, carnaval, Halloween, antropología urbana, Bogotá (Colombia). Abstract This paper questions why the inhabitants and government of the city of Bogotá (Colombia) perceive that they have been lacking a festival for more than 150 years. It argues that for the past 40 years the city has been celebrating a really popular festival: Halloween. Using a survey study of print periodical media, this paper examines how Halloween was imported and popula- rized, becoming institutionalized as an intergenerational and interclass celebration by the end of the 1970s. It analyzes how different sectors of society have tried to appropriate the festival and define its meaning, and how Halloween has maintained its polysemic and open-ended charac- ter. The study furthermore examines fieldwork on Halloween celebrations in Bogotá undertaken since 1997, and interprets the festival as a capitalist consumer ritual and carnival, and shows how the celebration has changed in keeping with the socio-spatial transformations that have taken place in the city over the past 30 years. Finally, it analyzes the city administration’s attempt to appropriate this festival and turn it into a carnival for the city. Keywords: festival, carnival, Halloween, urban anthropology, Bogotá (Colombia).