The Boruca (also known as the Brunca or the Brunka) are an Indigenous people living in Costa Rica. The tribe has about 2,660 members, most living on a reservation in the Puntarenas Province in southwestern Costa Rica, a few miles away from the Pan-American Highway following the Rio Térraba. The ancestors of the modern Boruca made up a group of chiefdoms that ruled most of Costa Rica's Pacific coast, from Quepos to what is now the Panamanian border, including the Osa Peninsula. Boruca traditionally spoke the Boruca language, which is now nearly extinct.
Like their ancestors the Boruca are known for their art and craftwork, especially weaving and their distinctive painted balsa wood masks, which have become popular decorative items among Costa Ricans and tourists. These masks are important elements in the Borucas' annual Danza de los Diablitos ceremony, celebrated every winter since at least colonial times. The Danza depicts the resistance of the "Diablito", representing the Boruca people, against the Spanish conquistadors.
History The Boruca are a tribe of Southern Pacific Costa Rica, close to the Panama border. The tribe is a composite group, made up of the group that identified as Boruca before the Spanish colonization, as well as many neighbors and former enemies, including the Coto people, Turrucaca, Borucac, Quepos, and the Abubaes.
The population of the tribe numbers around 2,000, most of whom live on the Reserva Boruca or the neighboring indigenous reserve of Reserva Rey Curre. The Reserva Boruca-Terraba was among the first indigenous reserves established in Costa Rica in 1956. The lands currently on the reservations were named baldíos (common lands) by the General Law of Common Lands, passed by the national government in 1939, making them the inalienable and exclusive property of the indigenous people. The subsequent law of the Institute of Lands and Colonization (ITCO), passed in 1961, transferred the baldíos to state ownership. Law No. 7316, the Indigenous Law of Costa Rica, passed in 1977, laid out the fundamental rights of the indigenous peoples. This law defined "indigenous", established that the reserves would be self-governing, and set limitations on land use within the reserves.
Location and geography The majority of the Boruca tribe lives on the Reserva Indígena Boruca. This reservation is located in the canton of Buenos Aires in the Puntarenas Province of the southern Pacific zone of Costa Rica. The reservation extends 138.02 km2. The reservation lies about 20 km south of the city of Buenos Aires.
In archaeological terms, Boruca (and all of Costa Rica) lies in the culture area known as the Intermediate Zone (after Willey, 1971) or Circum-Caribbean culture area (after Steward, 1949). It is called the Intermediate area because of its location between "the two areas of highest New World culture: Mesoamerica and Peru" (22 Willey).
Language The Boruca have an indigenous language known as Boruca or Brunka. It is a member of the Chibchan language family. Nevertheless, this indigenous language too is a product of the colonial period, and is actually a mixture of the speech of the several peoples that make up the modern-day Boruca. The Boruca language is nearly extinct, having only six elderly terminal speakers surviving, who speak the language fluently. Younger members of the community generally understand the language, but do not speak it. There exist 30 to 35 non-fluent speakers. It is also notable that the language is taught to the children who attend the local school. The main language in Boruca is Spanish, the native tongue and the only one spoken by the vast majority of the population.
Folklore Many traditional tales are told in the Boruca community.
Story of Quetzal According to the story of Quetzal, there was a large village with a cacique (chief), who consistently triumphed in leading his followers in wars against other tribes. His wife was going to have a child, and his biggest worry was that he was going to die before his son was born. However, to his avail, the enemy tribes ceased attack. The cacique had a beautiful son named Satú. The sorcerers of the village were delighted to find that, on the day the baby was born, a beautiful bird perched itself atop a tree branch and began to sing a sweet song. They subsequently gifted Satú with an amulet made of gold, in the shape of the quetzal bird's head. This amulet would be Satú's eternal warrior and protector. Satú grew to be the strongest male in the village and was never injured or debilitated by wars. His uncle, Labí, was jealous of Satú because he knew that when the cacique died, Satú would be the heir to the throne. Before going to bed, Satú usually took off his amulet and stored it under his head. One night, after Satú had fallen asleep, Labí snuck into his room and stole the amulet. The next day, when Satú was walking through the forest, he heard a noise and suddenly found that he had been shot by an arrow. Labí came out from behind a bush and smiled triumphantly. As Satú did not have his amulet, he died. At that moment, a quetzal flew over, sat on top of Satú's body for a few moments, and then flew away. Labí was terrified that the quetzal would revive Satú, so he built a fire and burned both Satú and his amulet. Back at the village, the cacique was worried that something might have happened to Satú. He gathered together his soldiers to investigate. Upon entering the forest, they noticed Satú's footsteps and followed them. They encountered the still burning fire and saw a bloody arrow beside it. The cacique ordered the soldiers to extinguish the fire. After doing so, the soldiers and the cacique cried in silence, lamenting their loss of Satú. At exactly noon that day, the village heard the sound of a quetzal. The quetzal had long, shiny feathers and was perched in a tree. It then flew away to a mountain, and lived there for eternity. The current belief is that this quetzal bird contains the spirit of Satú. When the tribe fights enemies, they are accompanied by the song of the quetzal and are always victorious.
Brunka The second story describes how the Brunka came to live in the village of Boruca. No one knows who the first people who arrived were, but it is known how they arrived. In the past, a lot of indigenous groups lived on the edge of the large river Térra (spelling unknown). Near this river the people fished, and harvested rice and plantains. An abundance of wild pigs resulted as punishment for the indigenous people's excessive hunting and consequent killing of all the other animals. So the indigenous people made arrows to run after and hunt the wild pigs. The pigs started climbing mountains and the indigenous people chased after them. Eventually they chased the pigs all the way to what is known today as Boruca. The indigenous people tried to form and organize themselves to kill the pigs, but they eventually lost the pigs. No one ever saw the pigs again. It is said that what the pigs really wanted was to bring the indigenous people to the land of Boruca, to show them the land, and to encourage them to form a community here. Some of the people that came to the new land stayed to set up the community, while others went to get family members. Some of the people didn't want to come to the new community and wanted to stay by the river. Hence two Brunka communities formed, one by the river and one in the new land. In the new land, the people started having meetings. The people started thriving due to an abundance of food from the river and families grew very large. However, brothers and sisters started living together. Sibú, the creator of everything, didn't like this so he ordered a jaguar to eat all the brothers and sisters that lived together. In this way, the jaguar saved many families and allowed them to grow. For this reason, the elders say that the jaguar is very sacred. There is a large rock with the hand prints of the jaguar near the community.
Other important stories in the community include La historia del Mamram, Kuazran, La desgracia de Mahuata, Durí y Yamanthí en un amor prohibido, La princesa encantada, La trengaza de ajerca y Durik, El príncipe cuervo, Los Diablitos, Las piedras blancas, La culebra diabólica, La chichi, El Dorado, El viaje sin retorno, and Como nació la quebrada Brúnoun.
Unlike most folktales in the United States, the stories here do not culminate with a moral. Their purposes are more to explain certain superstitions, describe the characteristics of landmarks, or explain the importance of locations. Thus, the stories' purpose was less to impart a moral, and more to serve as a key to the Boruca culture. In other words, the stories are not meant to be didactic. Rather, knowledge of the tales shed light on particular aspects of the culture.
Some members of the community are reluctant to share the folklore they knew in its entirety. Indeed, it has been openly explained that they are generally uncomfortable in sharing knowledge of their heritage. These disinclinations may be a fear of undermining the value of their culture. Fully sharing their folkloric knowledge would detract from its sacred nature, purity, and confidentiality. While it is debatable that these tactics are hindering or aiding the preservation of the Brunka culture, it may be felt that by completely disclosing their knowledge, it would be vulnerable to becoming tainted.
In Doris Stone's 1968 anthropological study of the Boruca, she claimed that many of the legends and myths were lost over time. Yet it has been mentioned that there is an abundance of folklore that many of the village elders still preserve. Additionally, there is carryover of legends over time. The repeated mention of certain tales indicates a continued level of cultural relevancy and importance from the late 1960s to present 2010. However, this preservation applies solely to the mention of the story, rather than the content and details of the stories.
Economy The population of the Reserva Indígena Boruca subsists mainly on small-scale agriculture and the profits reaped from the sale of indigenous crafts. They are best known for masks made for the "Fiesta de los Diablitos" (or "Danza de los Diablitos"). The masks, depicting stylized devil faces, are worn by the men of Boruca during the fiesta. The masks are usually made of balsa wood or sometimes cedar, and may be painted or left natural. Women weave utilizing pre-Columbian back-strap looms.,Woven items and other crafts, such as decorated gourds and decorative drums are also sold.
The majority of the indigenous population throughout Costa Rica makes their living from agriculture, and for this reason the reduction of indigenous lands and its occupation by non-indigenous people has a serious effect on the livelihood of those who live on the reserves.
Article Three of the Indigenous Law of Costa Rica specifically states, "Non-indigenous [people] may not rent or buy … lands or farms included within these reserves." According to Article 5, the ITCO (the Institute of Lands and Colonization) must relocate the non-indigenous land owners of good faith in the Reserves, or expropriate and indemnify them.
Despite this, large portions of the population on the reserves are non-indigenous, and large portions of the land are not owned by indigenous people. Specifically, only 43.9% of the land in Boruca was in indigenous hands in 1994, while indigenous individuals made up only 46.9% of the population. The situation was worse yet in the neighboring reserve of Rey Curré, where only 23.3% of the land was owned by indigenous people, while a full 58.9% of the population was indigenous . The Indigenous Law defines indigenous people as those who "constitute ethnic groups descendant directly from pre-Columbian civilizations that conserve their own identity" .
Traditional foods and drinks