Boruca (also called Brunca, Brunka or Borunca) are a proud indigenous people of Costa Rica. Their striking, hand-carved Boruca masks are so popular that imitations are sold throughout Central America. But the indigenous culture is more than a mask. Boruca is built on faith in the wisdom of elders and the Boruca legends they tell, passed down for centuries. The identity of Boruca reflects a deep respect for the stories told, the nature that surrounds them, and the community they share.

Matambú is one of the 24 Costa Rican indigenous territories and is the only one in which it recognizes a direct link with the ancient Chorotegas, however, around the entire Nicoya peninsula there are towns with practices and traditions that can be recognized as of ancestral origin. The Costa Rican anthropologist María Eugenia Bozzoli recognizes in her book “Costa Rican indigenous locations” (1969), that Matambú, despite the fact that it was no longer recognized as merely indigenous, maintained a series of practices that it approached as heirs of an indigenous tradition.

With the establishment of what were recognized as "indigenous reserves" in the 1970s, Matambú promoted a communal movement to take them into account, this as a way of defending their lands due to the invasion of settlers from the central valley.