Indigenous New Years!

2012 is supposed to be a year of positive transformation.  The world and it's inhabitants are going to take a turn for the better!  Dreams can come true.  Altruism is not superfluous and we can all grow spiritually and mentally in this new age of positive energy.

I can not think of a better way for me to have brought in this year than with an indigenous celebration surrounded by inspiring and kind people, nature, simplicity and adventure.  My dream is to always be able to enjoy nature and have adventures that take me deeper into nature and into the best vision of the human spirit and our unique place in the world.  I love to feel humbled by the beauty and the grandness of our mother earth.  That is probably whey being in the mountains is so special for me. 

Boruca, the indigenous community where I spent my new years, is situated in the highlands of Costa Rica.  I was lucky enough to have met and been invited by Allegra who works for the Peace Corps in Costa Rica.  We set off on December 31 for the first of a 3 day celebration.

Allegra arranged a home stay with a family in the area.  They turned out to be incredibly hospitable, loving and fun.  From the moment we arrived they invited us into their home and made us feel like one of the family.  Their housing complex was quite traditional in the sense that their were several family homes on one large plot of land.  It is a great example of communal living with everyone sharing in the care of the children, cooking, and all aspects of family life.  Children ran free, ate meals at any house and also slept over in whomever's house fit their fancy for the night.  They also had a finca, or small farm, up in the hills that provides food for the family.

The housing was reminiscent of my Peace Corps experience.  Our house had all the fixings for indoor plumbing but no running water!  So, we bathed with buckets and ran water with a hose from the house next door to fill the buckets and sinks for dish washing and other needs.  It was very basic and with the hard concrete construction and flooring at night it was so cool that we didn't need a fan. (luckily because there weren't any!) The homes were surrounded by orange, coconut, banana and other fruit bearing trees.  Our meals were simple and consisting mostly of carbs.  We subsisted on fried plantains, rice, and pasta with a splattering of meats and veggies.  Being vegetarian means eating chicken in these parts which is fine with me since I consider myself a 'flexible' vegetarian easily adapting to the conditions and necessities present.  Their preferred meat for the holidays is pork smoked over the wood fired oven and eaten for breakfast as well as filling for the tamales.

The Boruca ceremonial celebration consists of 3 days.  The ceremony is a reenactment of the Indigenous fight against the Spanish conquistadors.  A bull represents the conquistadors and for the first 2 days it battles against the diablitos, or little devils representing the indigenous.  The indigenous are conquered time after time during the battles until the third day.  On the third day they are joined by elder indigneous tribe.  First, the indigenous are all killed off by the conquistadors on this day but soon after they rise from the dead and conquer the Spanish.  The celebration ends in a burning of the bull.

When I first heard about this celebration, I was told that mushroom tea was drank throughout.  That would have been a crazy experience considering the bull and the indigenous are represented by colorfully carved and decorated masks made out of balsa wood.  But instead, throughout the carving and painting of the masks as well as during the battles, participants and observers are fueled by obscene amounts of chicha, a homemade alcohol made from corn and flavored with bananas.  During these long days of preparing for the celebration and following the ceremony I  could not imagine how fighters managed to stay on their feet since I never saw anything but chicha pass through their lips!  

The road to Boruca begins on the Inter-America highway and ends on a dirt road through the highlands that require 4-wheel navigation.  On our arrival, we saw the beginnings of the celebration.  Our host family met us and took us to their home.  2 guides, 5 year old Jake and 6 year old Kiani lednus around town before lunch.  After lunch we set out to see some of the ceremony in action.  Each day was the same with crowds following the conch shell horn of the master of ceremony, skirmishes between the bull and the diablitos, and heavy chicha drinking.  Crowds filled the dirt road streets among the banana leaf covered and masked participants.  The bull repeatedly defeated the diablitos sometimes throwing them through bamboo fences with it's horns.  We were surprised that the injuries incurred were minor and few during this celebration.  That night, after sitting around the wood fired stove and trying chicha, we headed to the first of the fiestas.  Our hostess, Olga, took us to a bar where we drank beers and tequila.  The bars are the same as the town, simple, dirt floored and sparse.  After a few drinks we headed to the tinglado, tin covered court, to begin the dancing.  Allegra, I and our host family boogied down.  I was invited to salsa and cumbia to Latin music before we headed back home to ring in the New Year!  The family gathered in the yard and counted down.  At midnight we all embraced, took shots of tequila, and ate a tamale.  It was so nice.  The evening continued back at the tinglado with all of us dancing until the morning.

On the first, more well-wishing for the New Year ensued.  After more tamales for breakfast we headed out on a hike to a waterfall with members of the family.  To get to the falls, we crossed rivers and streams and walked down a trail.  The beginning was a beautiful and uneventful hike.  Our host sisters warned us against going to the bottom of the falls because the trail is very dangerous.  They said to just stay at the pools above the falls.  Meanwhile, on the hike, our host brothers assured us that we had see the bottom of the falls.  So, we followed.  It was definitely crazy and somewhat dangerous as we scaled down the steep hillside and clung to rocks and trees.  In the end, the view was stunning.  The falls have 4 tiers and we ended up at the top of the 4th overlooking the valley.  Breathtaking.  Allegra and I agreed that we couldn't think of a better way to bring in the New Years but a day filled with adventure, nature, and good people!  The climb up was easier and we were rewarded with a swim in the pools.  At home, we took another tour of the festival, had some dinner and turned in for an early night.

The final day of the ceremony was really special, mostly because of the insight our family afforded us.  The day started off with us taking turns riding the family horse.  Our host father and patriarch of the family was so happy to offer us his horse so we felt obliged.  Next, we sat with the carvers and watched as they put the finishing touches on their masks.  It is truly amazing to see a block of balsa wood transformed into a colorful and intircate masks.  The best carvers and painters are employed for the process.  Some masks are made with all natural plant based colors and finished by burning them with a candle while others are painted more colorfully by expert painters with acrylics.   As the time for the ceremony grew closer, the finishing feathers were applied and the warriors began to get dressed.  First, they must wear long sleeves.  Then they put on burlap bags before they are wrapped in banana leaves.  A towel is wrapped around their heads before they lower their masks.  We were honored to see the entire process and set off on the procession to join the ceremony behind our host family.  There were about 20 participants from our family alone!  This day was long.  We set out at 2 and watched the fights between the diablitos and the bulls in the hot sun.  The fight ended in the town center where a ring was sectioned off and the entire town came out to watch.  It did not end until almost 8 with the burning of the bull.

That night was the last night of the fiesta.  I agreed to take 2 teenagers from my family.  If I had not agreed to this, I would not have gone.  Costa Rican culture is strange in that everyone takes things for face value and don't feel the need to ask for change when change is clearly necessary in some cases.  At the fiesta, the music was so loud it was difficult to enjoy.  My ears were assaulted, my body  throbbed with the beats and my head still hurts today!  When we arrived, everyone was inside in a half-moon around an empty dance floor.  It was absurd and sad.  100 people staring at a dance floor just standing around because it was too loud for conversation.  Finally, my host sisters decided we would start the party about an hour later.  So, myself, and 4 others from the family ventured to the middle of the dance floor and started dancing!  It was fun but after an hour the music changed and thankfully, we left.  Back home it was so loud that it was difficult to sleep even with earplugs!  Really ridiculous.

Our morning was filled with woeful goodbyes.  The family was genuinely sad to see us go and I was sad to leave.  In situations like these I always hope that we will meet again but I also find it is uncertain.  Yes, we make our own future and lives but sometimes we have to feel fortunate for experiences and people that have enriched our beings and take them with us in our hearts.  Maybe I'll see this town and family again, but maybe I won't.  Whatever it is, they have given me the gift of family and culture.

This video is a better explanation of our experience than my words could ever be: