This is a photo of the sign advertising Boruca masks in front of a store in central Tamarindo. Baruca masks are the primary craft of the Baruca culture of indigenous people in southern Pacific Costa Rica. I will show the actual masks during the next few days.Tamarindo is in the northern Pacific area of Costa Rica. There is a Baruca reservation, although I have never been to that region of the country. Sadly, there are only about 2,000 members of the tribe, and even sadder, the language is dying. There are only a handful people who are fluent in the native language, and a small number of younger tribal members who understand the language but generally to not speak it.
The loss of indigenous languages is a worldwide phenomena. I am woefully undereducated about foreign languages, like most Americans, but I understand that the loss of language carries with it a loss of culture, as some languages have unique ways of expressing cultural concepts, which is why we borrow some words and concepts from foreign languages.
We have photos of the architecture of London on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.
You never said if they are carved out of wood or made with mache paper. I carved them out of chunks of firewood which is a task and they are much to heavy to wear so they became wall hangings and one was or is as tall as my then baby at about 3 years of age.
ReplyDeleteI left you a reply to your question about my cousin, President Lincoln under the comment where you left it, but since you seldom come around, and would probably never see it, I also brought it over there to Puerto Rico...
Reply to Dave...
I think he probably would have if he was faced with the same problems and opposition. I don't think he would stand a chance if he was taken out of context or his place in history, with all his oddities, and dropped into this culture. Nope. He wouldn't stand a chance. His wife, would have been a flop as a guest on any talk show too. So, yes, and no.
I lood forward to seeing the masks. This is a craft I had not heard about in relation to Costa Rica. I'm excited to see some examples.
ReplyDeleteI will enjoy seeing some of the masks. Did you get to see them being made?
ReplyDeleteinteresting. i am not familiar with these masks
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing the masks in a future post.
ReplyDeleteBoruca masks are original from pacific south,Boruca and not from the north or Tamarindo. This indie¡genous community is located next the Terraba River.
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