Anmerkungen zur Stellung des Meeres in der Kultur der Küstenbevölkerung der Provinz Puntarenas (Costa Rica)

Abstract

At the pacific coast of Costa Rica, around the Gulf of Nicoya lives a population that is usually called cholos. This term is used in many parts of Latinamerica to designate Indians and Mestizos which show many Indian features. The families living at the Gulf of Nicoya call themselves Paisanos which means "compatriots". They earn their living from fishing and the lives of the fishermen and sailors are mainly focused on the sea. The navigators experience the sea as a landscape of water in which they are able to navigate without any instruments or contact to land. In the world view of the paisanos the sea is a factor similar to that of the rivers in the world view of the Indians in the north of Southamerica. The spirits inhabiting the world around them and the rules of conduct relating to them show the paisanos as being part of an Indio-American folkculture.