【美洲·哥斯达黎加】哥斯达黎加的牧牛传统和牛车 Oxherding and oxcart traditions in Costa Rica（2008年）

“传统的牛车，或称卡雷塔，是哥斯达黎加最著名工艺的产物。从19世纪中期开始，牛车被用于将咖啡豆从哥斯达黎加中央山谷越过山脉运送到太平洋海岸的蓬塔雷纳，这段旅程需要十到十五天。

牛车使用无辐条车轮，这是阿兹特克人使用的圆盘和西班牙人引入的辐条车轮的混合体，可以在不卡住的情况下穿过泥浆。在许多情况下，牛车是一个家庭唯一的交通工具；它们通常是社会地位的象征。

绘制和装饰牛车的传统始于20世纪初。最初，哥斯达黎加的每个地区都有自己独特的设计，可以通过车轮上的油漆图案识别驾驶员的来源。

到了20世纪初，花朵、人脸和盆景开始出现在尖星图案旁边，直到今天，每年的比赛都会奖励这一传统中最具创造力的艺术家。每辆牛车都被设计成自己的“歌”，这是一种独特的钟声，当牛车颠簸前行时，金属环敲击车轮的轮毂螺母。一旦牛车成为个人自豪感的来源，人们在建造牛车时会更加小心，并选择质量最高的木材来发出最好的声音。如今，色彩鲜艳、装饰华丽的卡雷塔与原始粗糙、长方形、用粗牛皮油布覆盖的藤架车辆几乎没有什么相似之处。在哥斯达黎加，牛车和游行车仍然是主要的宗教交通工具，而在过去，牛车和游行车仍然是哥斯达黎加的主要交通工具。

由于牛车作为交通工具已经过时，因此对牛车的需求不断减少，这意味着在过去几十年中，受过牛车制造和装饰培训的工匠数量大幅下降。"

2008年度列入人类非物质文化遗产名录。

来源：联合国教科文组织亚太地区非物质文化遗产国际培训中心

The traditional oxcart, or carreta, is the product of Costa Rica’s most famous craft. Dating from the mid-nineteenth century, oxcarts were used to transport coffee beans from Costa Rica’s central valley over the mountains to Puntarenas on the Pacific coast, a journey requiring ten to fifteen days.

The oxcarts used spokeless wheels, a hybrid between the disc used by the Aztec and the spoked wheel introduced by the Spaniards, to cut through the mud without getting stuck. In many cases, oxcarts were a family’s only means of transport; they often served as a symbol of social status.

The tradition of painting and decorating oxcarts started in the early twentieth century. Originally, each region of Costa Rica had its own particular design, enabling the identification of the driver’s origin by the painted patterns on the wheels.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, flowers, faces and miniature landscapes began to appear beside patterns of pointed stars, and to this day annual contests reward the most creative artists in this tradition. Each oxcart is designed to make its own ’song’, a unique chime produced by a metal ring striking the hubnut of the wheel as the cart bumped along. Once the oxcart had become a source of individual pride, greater care was taken in their construction, and the highest-quality woods were selected to make the best sounds. Today’s colourful and richly decorated carretas bear little resemblance to the original rough-hewn, rectangular, caneframed vehicles covered by rawhide tarps. While in most regions of Costa Rica trucks and trains replaced oxcarts as the main means of transport, the carretas remain strong symbols of Costa Rica’s rural past, and still feature prominently in parades and in religious and secular celebrations.

Since oxcarts have become obsolete as means of transport, there is a decreasing demand for them, which means that the number of artisans who possess the training to manufacture and decorate oxcarts has strongly declined over the past decades.

Included in the list of human intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

Source: UNESCO International Training Center for intangible cultural heritage in the Asia Pacific Region