Costa Rican oxcarts

The cart and its oxen

A carreta runs on two wheels or four, and a rope or a chain joins it to the oxen. The driver and one passenger sit at the front; the goods ride at the back. The carts were built to cross country that other vehicles could not manage: mountains, swamps, rivers and beaches. Spanish colonisers first brought the cart design to the region, but it broke apart in Costa Rica's wet climate and rough ground, so a sturdier cart was worked out in the nineteenth century. Its wheels had no spokes, a shape that borrowed from both the Aztec disc and the Spanish spoked wheel.

Coffee and the golden age

When coffee became Costa Rica's leading export, carretas carried the beans from the plantations down to the ports. In 1843 the first shipment of coffee for London reached the main port by oxcart. Between 1844 and 1846 carts also hauled beans towards Puntarenas. At first people pulled the carts themselves, but the loads grew too heavy, so oxen took their place. The period from 1850 to 1935 is remembered as the carts' golden age. For many families the cart was the only transport they had. Rail, tractors and trucks took over after the First World War.

Paint and pattern

Decoration started in the early twentieth century. Each region worked out its own design so that carts could be recognised on the road, and cowherds began painting their own carts as well. Bright colours, geometric shapes, portraits and landscapes went onto the wood. Wheels got designs in 1903, and by 1915 whole wheels were painted so that each family's cart looked different. A cart's pattern could show a household's standing. Owners chose good wood and took care over the making, and contests were held for the most inventive designs. A metal ring striking the hub nut gave some carts a chime of their own.

The boyeros' day

The best known gathering is Día de los Boyeros, or Oxcart Drivers Day, held on the second Sunday of March at San Antonio de Escazú, which lies in San José. It has been running for more than thirty years. Teams of oxen with painted carts come from around the country and process through the town. In 2014 more than 200 pairs of oxen and carts took part. Carts are also brought out for other parades and festivals, large and small, and visitors see them in gardens across Costa Rica.

Recognition and today

Today's carretas look little like the plain rectangular carts once covered with rawhide. On 22 March 1988 La Carreta was made Costa Rica's National Labour Symbol, and on 24 November 2005 UNESCO added the typical oxcart to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Writers have long treated the cart as part of the country's story: the author Michael Sims, in La Carreta Pintada, describes it carrying crops to market, travellers, the sick and the dead. Painting is passed down inside families, and carretas remain a source of pride.

How Costa Rican oxcarts is kept

Each year on the second Sunday of March, oxcart owners bring their teams to San Antonio de Escazú for Día de los Boyeros. Drivers turn out for the day, hitch one or two pairs of oxen to a painted cart and join a procession through the streets. Crowds and judges look over the paintwork. More than 200 teams took part in 2014. Carts also appear at other parades and local festivals, and some farmers still use them to bring in the harvest where the ground is too rough for vehicles.

When and where

Día de los Boyeros falls on the second Sunday of March, a date set by the calendar rather than by any religious year. The wider use of carretas runs through the year, tied to the coffee harvest and to local festivals.

The tradition belongs to Costa Rica, and its centrepiece is San Antonio de Escazú, which lies in San José. Painted carts turn up at parades and fairs across the country. Oxcarts are used elsewhere in Central America too, but the Costa Rican ones stand out for their patterns and shapes.

What Costa Rican oxcarts means

For many Costa Ricans the carreta stands for the country's own labour. It carried coffee, the crop that built the export trade, and for years it was the only transport many families had. The National Labour Symbol designation in 1988 and the UNESCO listing in 2005 confirm that meaning. The paint gives each cart a mark of its own, since designs were once used to tell one region's or one household's cart from another.

Questions people ask about Costa Rican oxcarts

See also

Warli paintingSacred white rice paste murals made on red clay walls in western IndiaBarn raisingA communal tradition where neighbours assemble to erect a farm barn in a few daysBrigid's crossA cross of woven rushes or straw, made for Saint Brigid's Day on the first of FebruaryDiwaliA five-day festival of lights celebrated across India and its diaspora to mark the victory of light over darkness.

Good reading and sources

• Costa Rican oxcarts on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.