Boruca History Timeline
From the Diquís stone spheres to a mask carved today — the dated milestones of the Boruca (Brunka) people.
Before the Spanish
The Boruca live in a land with a very long human story. Dates here are approximate; the sources are named under each entry.
People already live here
Kamel points to research by archaeologist Ifigenia Quintanilla showing that this land has been continuously inhabited for some 10,000 years — the unbroken thread he sees from the sphere-makers to the Boruca of today.
The stone spheres of the Diquís
Chiefdom societies of the Diquís Delta carve and polish nearly perfect spheres of volcanic gabbro, some over two meters across. No one fully knows why. The Boruca keep oral traditions tying the spheres to ancestral power.
Masks in shamanic ceremony
Kamel says Boruca ancestors were already carving and wearing masks in shamanic ceremony, and that pre-Hispanic gold masks and earrings found in the region show the tradition reaches back further still. A mask also hides the face — and a hidden face unsettles whoever faces it.
Conquest and colony
The Spanish arrive
Boruca tradition holds that the people carved fierce masks and wore them against the invaders, who called them little devils — diablitos. The name stuck and became a badge of honor. The Juego de los Diablitos is understood as the yearly retelling of this resistance.
The Franciscan mission
Historians record that the Brunca were placed under the control of Franciscan friars as an Indigenous reducción (mission settlement). Some scholars see Franciscan “conquest dances” as an influence on the form of the Juego; the community’s own account stresses its far older roots.
A stop on the mule road
Boruca becomes an important stop for muleteers on the road linking Central America with Portobelo, Panama.
The mule road falls silent
The route stops working when the Portobelo trade fairs are suspended.
The mask nearly lost, and renewed
Ismael Antonio González Lázaro is born
Kamel’s father is born in the Boruca community and will become known as the father of the contemporary Boruca mask. He never played diablo himself — the strict rules of the tradition at the time, and his physical condition, kept him from it — yet he became the first great reference for the traditional mask.
Only three carvers left
The tradition nearly vanishes: only three elders are still carving masks.
A school of children saves the mask
Don Ismael, Kamel’s father, teaches a group of village children to carve (the Taller Rabrú). Their work changes the design and format of the mask and gives rise to the contemporary diablo mask and the ecological mask, while strengthening the traditional one. Kamel was among those children.
A national prize for the mask
Don Ismael receives Costa Rica’s Premio Nacional de Cultura Popular Tradicional for protecting the legacy of the wooden mask and for his contribution to national Indigenous culture.
Non Cuan Xá dance group
Kamel and his brother Ismael co-found the Non Cuan Xá Indigenous dance group.
Recognition and today
UNESCO inscribes the stone spheres
The Precolumbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquís become a World Heritage Site.
The Juego is declared heritage
Decree No. 40766-C, published in La Gaceta No. 237, declares the Juego de los Diablitos of the Brunka people Intangible Cultural Heritage, recognizing it as the historical drama of Indigenous struggle and resistance during the Conquest.
The tradition on new stages
Kamel designs the Sarastro costume for a Costa Rican staging of La Flauta Mágica (2024) and the Boruca-inspired artwork on a football club’s away jersey (2025).
Kamel speaks on the Boruca worldview
At the Flamingo Marina Whale & Dolphin Festival and at the “Behind the Mask” talk in Pérez Zeledón, Kamel shares the Boruca view of the ocean and the story of the mask.
Boruca travels to Mexico
Kamel and other Boruca representatives travel to the Máscaras Danzantes festival in Orizaba, Veracruz, to represent Costa Rica and Boruca with the Diablitos dance.
The next Juego de los Diablitos
The ceremony returns to Boruca on its fixed yearly calendar: the nacencia at midnight, the bull, the fall and the conch. Dates should be confirmed with the community.
What we don’t know yet
A timeline is only as good as its sources, and much of Boruca history lives in memory, not in archives. No one has fixed the year the Juego first took its present form, and some milestones — the founding of the territory, the arrival of weaving techniques — are not yet dated here. If you hold a date, a document or a memory that belongs on this page, tell Kamel on WhatsApp and it will be added with its source.
Frequently asked
When was the Juego de los Diablitos declared cultural heritage?
Costa Rica declared the Juego de los Diablitos Intangible Cultural Heritage by Decree No. 40766-C, published in La Gaceta on December 14, 2017.
How close did the Boruca mask tradition come to disappearing?
By the 1980s only three elders were still carving masks, according to Kamel González Rojas. The tradition was rebuilt when his father, don Ismael González Lázaro, taught a group of village children to carve.
Were the Boruca a stop on a colonial trade route?
Yes. According to a study cited in the University of Costa Rica journal Herencia, Boruca became an important stop for muleteers on the road linking Central America with Portobelo, Panama, by 1719. The route stopped working in 1739 when the Portobelo fairs were suspended.
Sources & further reading
- UNESCO — Precolumbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquís
- Revista Herencia (Universidad de Costa Rica) — study of the Juego de los Diablitos
- Delfino.cr — El juego de los diablitos de Boruca
- La Teja — the 2017 heritage declaration
- The Tico Times — Day of the Devils
- Kamel G. Rojas on Facebook