The 'civilized' world has long ceased to wear material masks, with the exception for those events such as Halloween or Mardi Gras, but tribal cultures still use them to express their personal past and to keep their history alive in a world that would otherwise ignore or forget these important stories.
And so it is with the indigenous Brunka people of Costa Rica's Pacific South-West region. Their story, being subdued under Spanish colonial force, is kept alive and retold every year via the power of the mask which is worn in their annual Danza de los Diablitos, or, Dance of the Little Devils.
For three days many male members of the Brunka tribe participate in this re-enactment ceremony masquerading as 'little devils', for this was the deprecating insult of the Christian Spaniards as they justified annihilating the Brunka 'savages'. They once again are killed by the representation of their conquerors, a bull, but they rise at the end of the third day of the ceremony only to vanquish their oppressor.
The magic of the masks are an important part of the ceremony as seen in the creation of this tribal art form; the ferocious face depicted by various devices: the horns, the bared teeth, the garish colours, feather, hair and other materials as the Brunka artists strive to tell to the villages, be it Boruca or Rey Curre, their collective story.
This annual three-day event, which takes place from Dec. 31 - Jan. 2, generates total village turn-out, providing traditional foods such as tamales and chicha, the fermented corn brew that is painstakingly made in anticipation of this event, the biggest in the Brunka's annual calendar. These refreshments are handed out to the diablitos who descend upon their neighbors, whooping and hollering to avert their wrath.
Open to visitors through specialized tours, the ceremony galvanizes the Brunka people and their sense of pride for the valiant efforts their fore-fathers made to try to keep the tribe and all the cultural and spiritual attributes of their people alive. As history proved not to be in their favor, they failed. But the bravery of their efforts lives on in this 400 plus year old re-enactment with the mask an integral part of the story.