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| Many oxcarts have found a
new home –in the US! |
| Courtesy ICT |
When the Chaverri Family first commercialized sales
of the colorful, wooden oxcarts known as carretas,
in 1903, these practical items were still considered
to be a necessity by every single Costa Rican family.
They were used for everyday, practical purposes,
such as transporting products to the harbor or market.
The larger the family, the more carretas it possessed.
It was normal for one family to own between four
and ten carretas. Usually each daughter in the family
had her name painted, in the most beautiful and
decorative way, on one of the carts.
The number of carretas a family possesses directly
correlates to their amount of wealth. Each year villagers
would get together in a special parade-type festival,
whereby each family brought their most beautiful carretas
to impress their neighbors. Even the Catholic Church
benefited from carretas, as believers used to bring
sugar and coffee to the church.
The time when people, by simply listening to the sound
of carretas, could recognize which neighbor was outside,
has long since passed. Today, many carretas are designed
according to individual tastes. They still come to
symbolize labor, thanks to former president Oscar
Arias, who established this new, symbolic role for
carretas over ten years ago. In some areas of Costa
Rica, particularly in Guanacaste, the carretas are
still very much in use and can be seen transporting
heavy wet sand to construction sites from otherwise
inaccessible river beds. In San José, there
is an annual parade of oxcarts, primarily for the
purpose of attracting tourists.
The Chaverri family has managed to hold on to the
past by producing more than 1,500 different types
of carretas on an annual basis. Their factory is located
a mere thirty minutes drive outside San José,
in a town called Sarchí – the cradle of
arts and craftsmanship, as the family calls it. Carlos
Chaverri Rojas, the fourth generation artist of his
family, is proud of his family business. “We
don’t only sell souvenirs, but also culture and
education,” said Rojas, “We want people,
Ticos and Gringos, to know how these oxcarts were
used, and how they have contributed to the traditions
of Costa Rica.”
His father, the master artist of the family, is now
74 years old, and still paints. “I started painting
when I was seven years old,” says Chaverri. Now
he is waiting for the fifth generation to get a little
bit older so that he can start teaching them how to
preserve this important aspect of Costa Rican history.
Carretas have lived a long life in Costa Rican history,
but they also seem to fit well into the modern world
and all its trends. Mr. Chaverri refers to the United
States as his best market, and his company receives
orders from the US on a regular, weekly basis. He
is very satisfied with how well the carretas are received
in the US; but what makes his relationship with the
Americans even more special is not the numbers of
sales, but the personal touch of his business. “We
often receive photos of Costa Rican carretas in their
new American homes,” he notes with a big smile. |
