Alebrijes

The Story of the Alebrijes is a never-ending dream; it is a tale which is not a tale as it is as real as the Alebrijes themselves….

Don Pedro Linares woke up dressed in black, surrounded by candles, flowers and crucifixes, whilst he was shouting “Alebrijes”; he later on realized that it was his own funeral. Hours before his sisters pronounced him dead.
 

The story goes on to say that while Don Pedro dreamt a deadly dream he traveled to a huge forest, with creatures which have never been seen before. These were extraordinarily beautiful and terrifying at the same time. A lion with a dog’s head, a cockerel with horns, a donkey with butterfly wings. He was walking trying to understand, as he was checking out the textures and colors, whilst someone was whispering to his ear “Alebrijes”, “Alebrijes”, “Alebrijes”.

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He was a visitor in an alien world, noticing that the donkey had snake’s skin and the cockerel had giraffe’s skin when suddenly a man came up to him and told him that it was not his time yet and that he should go back. It seems as if the creatures wanted to guide him towards a narrow window, where Don Pedro got in and he woke up right in the middle of his funeral. It was 1930 and the date when Alebrijes were born.

Alebrijes are fantastic painted wooden figures carved and decorated by artisans from the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. They can be representations of animals of any type (humans included) in colors and color combinations which you've never dreamed of. Think of a light green giraffe with pink spots and blue bovine udders... Maybe it has feathered wings and long sharp pointed horns. Or a yellow water buffalo, its entire front end bristling with purple cactus-like prickles... Or a magenta-winged Angel with flowing red ixtle tresses, holding out a multicolored flower as an offering. These are Alebrijes , the physical manifestations of the artisan's imagination, inspired by the fantastic, colorful creatures that inhabit the carver's subconscious and populate his dreams (or nightmares).

The carving of Alebrijes is a relatively new art form, but its roots can be traced back to the pre-Columbian carved and painted wooden masks that the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs wore in their ceremonies, as well as to the colonial tradition of making giant papier-mâché Judas figures to be displayed and destroyed during Easter week celebrations. Oaxacans have always been carvers; they have been making wooden toys for their children for centuries and since 1897, December 23 rd , "The Night of the Radishes" has been celebrated in Oaxaca City with a contest and display of elaborately carved giant radishes.

Alebrijes are made from copal wood. The word copal is derived from copalli , the Nahuatl word for resin. Dried copal resin was used for religious purposes in pre-Columbian times and is stilled burned today as incense in many Mexican churches. Copal trees have always grown in the countryside surrounding the Oaxacan villages of San Martín Tilcajete, Arrazola, and La Unión Tejalapan , so it is not surprising that these villages have become the principle centers for the fashioning of Alebrijes . Copal wood is often knotty and not particularly suitable for furniture or housing construction, but when green, it is soft, easy to carve, and sands to an amazingly smooth finish; it is the perfect medium for the caving of Alebrijes .

The process is simple. The artisan roughs out the figures with his machete from green copal wood. He uses fine chisels or knives for the detailed work, but 90% of the carving is done with machetes. After the figure is carved, it is sanded to a silky softness and then left out to dry in the hot Oaxacan sun, sometimes for as long as two months. As the figures dry, they harden and their surfaces have to be sanded again. Finally they are ready to be painted with distinctive bright, traditional colors and designs, and maybe, if the artisan is in the mood, he might add bits of cloth or ixtle (the dried fiber from the tropical Agave or Yucca Plant) when appropriate. The resulting Alebrijes have become so popular that the artisans now have to import copal wood from the neighboring mountains, because they've used up all the wood that at one time surrounded the villages.