QCOSTARICA – Nearly 300 “yuntas” (oxen) with their respective carts, accompanied by music and folk dances, paraded through the streets of downtown San Jose Sunday morning, returning to a tradition that had not been for two years due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The parade started at the statue of León Cortés, in La Sabana, moved along Paseo Colon and Avenida Segunda, to the Plaza de la Democracia in the XXIV edition of the Entrada de Santos y Desfile de Boyeros a San José (Entrance of Saints and Boyeros Parade to San José).
The activity was organized by the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud (Ministry of Culture and Youth), through the Producción Artística y Cultural (Center for Artistic and Cultural Production), the Asociación Boyera Costarricense (Costa Rican Boyera Association) and with the support of the Municipality of San José.
“This tradition evokes a past in which the cart became a fundamental element for the development of the country; Today, we dedicate this parade to children and youth, as a way of promoting interest and the transmission of knowledge of the practice of boyeo, to the new generations,” highlighted Nayuribe Guadamuz, Minister of Culture and Youth.
In 1997, the idea of holding the national parade of Boyeros was proposed as a way to honor, and remember the origins of the nation and show the pride of these artisans in their trade, to keep alive the tradition in which boyeros and boyeras from different regions of the country come together to celebrate their bond with this peasant custom, typical of the times in which the herding of materials, work in the fields, the transport of people and products were resolved with carts and oxen.
