The Juego de los Diablitos of Boruca
Four days every New Year when masked Cabrú Rójc fight a bull — and win.
What is the Juego de los Diablitos?
The Juego de los Diablitos (Game of the Little Devils) is the annual ceremony of the Boruca people, held in the village of Boruca from December 30 to January 2. Masked players — the Cabrú Rójc — fight a bull that stands for the Spanish invaders. They are struck down, they rise again, and in the end the bull burns. In 2017 Costa Rica declared the Juego Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Cabrú Rójc is the community’s own name for the masked players (you will also see it written Kabrú Rójc, Kabru Rojc or Cabrurojc). Some elders translate it “warriors who come behind the sun.” Diablito, “little devil,” is what the Spanish called them — a name the Boruca kept and wear with pride.
December 30 to January 2, every year
Boruca, Buenos Aires canton, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
masked players — adults who sign up weeks ahead
Declared Intangible Cultural Heritage (Decree 40766-C)
The four days, day by day
Details shift a little from year to year. This follows published descriptions of the festival (see sources below) and the community’s own announcements.
The gathering and the birth
The bull is assembled from midday and the community gathers for a convivio. Around 11 p.m. the young men who are about to be “born” climb the sacred hill. At midnight firecrackers announce the nacencia — the devils’ symbolic birth — and the masked players, dressed in burlap and banana leaves, walk the village in columns until dawn. It is the only night procession, and the bull does not take part.
The bull appears
Families provide breakfast and the Xamán, the bull, appears, carried by about a dozen men who take turns. There are processions in the morning, at 2 p.m. and at dusk. The bull charges the devils and the onlookers, and the sound of the conch pauses the fight. At day’s end the devils try to tie the bull up for the night in a free dance of about 45 minutes.
The devils’ anger
More masked players join in. The bull strikes the devils and breaks pieces of their masks. The game turns serious — the devils are angry, and the fight is no longer play.
The fall, the conch and the fire
Players change masks and characters from local legends appear, along with the carniceros (butchers), who bring humor and pretend to sell the bull’s meat. Around 3 p.m., in the tumbazón, the bull fells each devil in the ring, the last being the Diablo Mayor. The bull flees, thinking it has won — but the Diablo Mayor rises, blows his conch, and every devil comes back to life. A dog tracks the bull, which is burned in a bonfire while the community dances around the fire.
Who is who in the Juego
Cabrú Rójc — the devils
More than a hundred adult players wearing masks of a devil, an ancestor, a warrior or an animal, with costumes of burlap sacking, banana leaves and natural paint. They are the collective hero of the story.
Diablos Mayores
The leaders. They set the pace of the game and give orders with a conch or horns; the Diablo Mayor is the last to fall and the one who brings everyone back to life.
Arreadores
Helpers of the Diablos Mayores who carry staffs of command and keep order in the ring.
The Xamán — the bull
A frame of guayabo wood covered in burlap and banana leaves, topped with a bull mask. It stands for the Spanish invaders — yet for those who carry it, it is far more than a costume (see below).
Carniceros & the dog
The butchers bring humor to the last day. The dog that tracks the bull is always played by the same person, who carves a different mask every year.
Musicians
Flute and drum, conch shells and cow horns, and the traditional saloma chant. The rhythm is lively in the fights and slow and melancholy near the end.
The bull is more than a bull
“[The carriers] say it is not just a frame of sticks with a bull mask — that through contact, through the sound of the flute, the conch, the drum and the salomas, it passes from a dead world to a living, spiritual one. They even say it is an animal with a human spirit.”
“The conch and life. Death and life in the Kabrú Rójc ritual: death takes our life, and the conch gives it back.”
A reader of that post, J.L. Amador, noticed a parallel with the Mexica story in which Quetzalcóatl must sound a conch to return from the underworld. Kamel travels to Mexico in November 2026 to represent Boruca with the Diablitos dance.
What it looks and sounds like
The masks carry animals, warriors and spirits, in colors that run from night through dawn to dusk. The Boruca community’s own heritage commission also names purple, a gift of the sea, as the sacred color of the Brunka people.
Sound never stops: flute and drum, conch shells and horns, and the saloma chant. Visitors describe tamales, gallo pinto and coffee in the village, and chicha, a strong corn drink, passed around during the days of the Juego.
How old is the Juego?
No one can give the Juego a birth year. The community’s own account ties it to the resistance against the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, and Kamel says the mask itself is older still, used in shamanic ceremony long before. Visitors have been told the masks have been worn in this ritual for about 400 years.
Some scholars note that the drama of a bull and masked fighters resembles the colonial-era “Danza de la Conquista” spread by Franciscan missionaries, and have debated how much of its form dates from the mission period. What every source agrees on is its meaning: the 2017 decree describes it as the historical drama of Indigenous struggle and resistance against the European during the Conquest.
Legend adds a guardian: Cuasrán, who refused baptism and fled into the mountain, is said to still protect the Boruca and may appear at any moment during the festival. Kamel’s uncle taught him the phrase “Kuasran’qui di dusta ra” — “Cuasrán is among us.”
Come as a guest, not an audience
The Juego is a community ceremony, not a show. Visitors have been welcomed, often with a local guide. Before you travel, message Kamel on WhatsApp so he can tell you how the community asks visitors to take part, how to get to Boruca and where to stay. And if you take a piece of the tradition home, buy it from the carvers themselves.
Frequently asked
What is the Juego de los Diablitos?
The Juego de los Diablitos (Game of the Little Devils) is the annual ceremony of the Boruca people, held in the village of Boruca from December 30 to January 2. Masked players called Cabrú Rójc fight a bull that represents the Spanish invaders, are struck down, rise again and finally burn the bull.
When is the Juego de los Diablitos?
Every year from December 30 to January 2. The next edition is expected to run from December 30, 2026 to January 2, 2027. The first night procession begins at midnight on December 30.
Who or what is the bull, the Xamán?
The Xamán (also written Samán) is a bull-shaped frame of guayabo wood covered in burlap and banana leaves, topped with a bull mask and carried by about a dozen men who take turns. It stands for the Spanish invaders, but the people who carry it say that through the flute, conch, drum and salomas it passes from a dead world to a living, spiritual one.
Why are they called diablitos, or little devils?
“Diablito” is the Spanish word for “little devil”, the name the colonizers gave the masked men. The community kept it and wears it with pride. Their own name for the masked players is Cabrú Rójc (also written Kabrú Rójc), which some elders translate as “warriors who come behind the sun”.
Is the Juego de los Diablitos official cultural heritage?
Yes. Costa Rica declared the Juego de los Diablitos Intangible Cultural Heritage by Decree No. 40766-C, published in La Gaceta on December 14, 2017.
What happens on the last day?
On January 2 the bull fells every devil in the ring (the tumbazón), the last being the Diablo Mayor. The bull flees, thinking it has won, but the Diablo Mayor rises, blows his conch and all the devils come back to life. The bull is then hunted down and burned in a bonfire.
Can visitors attend the Juego de los Diablitos?
Visitors have been welcomed, often with a local guide, but the Juego is a community ceremony, not a show. Message Kamel on WhatsApp at +506 8801 6132 before you come so he can tell you how the community asks visitors to take part.
Keep reading
Sources & further reading
- Delfino.cr — El juego de los diablitos de Boruca (opinion column by Cristhian González Gómez, Brunka author)
- Revista Herencia (Universidad de Costa Rica) — academic study of the Juego, with fieldwork from 2012–2013
- La Teja — the 2017 heritage declaration
- The Tico Times — Day of the Devils
- Kamel G. Rojas on Facebook — quoted posts