Costa Rica
Boruca
Hand-carved devil masks and a three-day battle re-enacting indigenous resistance to the Spanish conquest.
Wood shavings curl from a blade as a mask-maker carves a devil's grin out of balsa. The scent of fresh-cut wood mixes with woodsmoke and the faint sweetness of fermenting maize. Boruca — 'place of ashes' in the old language — is a village where resistance is carved, woven and performed every year.
Each new year, from 31 December to 2 January, the Juego de los Diablitos — Cabrú rójc in Brunca — takes over the village: masked diablitos face the bull that stands for the Spanish conquest, three days and nights of procession in which every house receives the devils with chicha and food. The masks are carved from balsa and cedar within particular families, and the weavers colour cotton with natural dyes, including a purple milked from a living sea mollusc that goes back into the water unharmed. Around two thousand Boruca remain in these territories; few now speak Brunca, and the festival, the masks and the looms carry the culture's revival. In February, the neighbouring territory of Rey Curré stages the battle again.
Solo
Community-run workshops welcome individual visitors, and watching a mask take shape under the carver's knife is worth the journey on its own.
Couple
Watching a mask take shape and buying it from the hands that made it — souvenirs here are the opposite of airport shopping.
- The Juego de los Diablitos runs 31 December to 2 January — a masked, theatrical defeat of the conquest.
- Balsa and cedar mask-carving is the signature craft, held within families and painted for the festival.
- Weavers colour cotton with a purple dye milked from a living sea mollusc, returned unharmed to the sea.
- A community museum keeps the traditional rancho architecture and the territories' story standing.
Chicha — fermented maize brewed for the Diablitos, poured for the devils at every door.
Rice tamales wrapped in leaves and cooked slow over wood — the Brunca region's staple parcel.
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