In an explosion of colors and fantasy, since 2007 the celebration of the Day of the Dead that takes place throughout Mexico from late October to early November has included the participation of some truly impossible beings called alebrijes. Here, their mind-blowing origin and meaning.
In addition to the spectacle of cemeteries with tombstones, crosses and offerings covered in yellow flowers; Families eating and singing next to the graves, flags of a thousand colors crossing the space and paper balloons lit with candles inside, in Mexico the Day of the Dead is an occasion for children and adults, men and women, to leave their houses dressed as catrines and catrinas (sophisticatedly dressed skeleton and skull costumes), as well as charros and animals of all kinds in a bustling wandering through the central streets of cities and towns.
Mexico City stands out in these festivities for its pompous parade, several kilometers long, in which, in addition to troupes, floats and groups of all kinds - from religious groups with crucifixes to folk dance groups, mariachi bands or simply teams of young people or people in costume who join the route - since 2007 more than 200 giant alebrijes have been added, improbable animals made of cardboard, paper and all kinds of waste full of color and fantasy but of macabre and hallucinatory origin.
A visit to the world of the dead
It was 1936 and Pedro Linares López, with a perforated gastric ulcer, was delirious on his deathbed in Mexico City, in an almost convulsive state of agitation. He would later say that the peaceful natural landscape he had first dreamed of had suddenly been harassed by nightmare animals: a donkey with wings, a rooster with bull horns and a lion with a dog's head. What's more, they were shouting "alebrijes! alebrijes! alebrijes!"
Pedro Linares, already given up for dead, came to his senses when his now deceased brother told him in his dream that that was not his place yet, and showed him a door through which he returned to the world of the living, to his home and his family.
Of small build, Pedro was one of the many traditional artisans who, with paper and waste of all kinds, made small objects such as animals, piñatas, carnival masks and skulls that are sold in popular markets. His specialty was Judas figures, in his case gigantic papier-mâché skeletons that he made to order to be burned in the last days of Lent.
After a slow recovery and faithful to the world in which he had grown up, populated by magical beings such as the nahuales (humans with the ability to turn into animals, but also animals that guard humans), aluxes and chaneques (elves that guard forests and crops), Linares restarted his work in 1947, convinced that he had returned from the world of the dead with the obligation to make known the creatures that had accompanied him.
From then on, cardboard beings emerged from his workshop that, on wire or reed structures, combined parts of different animals like the beings from his nightmares. But because of their cadaverous appearance, they were not of interest to buyers.
Paradoxically and unwittingly, with his works and failures, Linares was a mirror of the surrealist movement, so popular in those years in Europe and in the Mexico of the avant-garde intellectuals, in its attempt to make art an expression of the unconscious, of the irrational, improbable and spontaneous, manifested especially in dreams. Thus, after a gallery owner from Cuernavaca discovered him, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo became interested in his work and commissioned several works from him.
These were the first doors that opened to Linares' creatures, who began to cover them with bright colors and typical decorations so that the dragons with jaguar heads and wings, the four-legged roosters, iguanas with human skull heads, and a thousand other animals would be accepted by the public at the street market.
On the road to recognition
Although there were times when a collector exported ten pieces per month, the art world still had no place for alebrijes. And even though in 1954 an art specialist had presented them in Paris, and in 1974 they were part of a collective exhibition of crafts in Europe, it was not until 1975, with the documentary “Pedro Linares, artisan cartonero” by filmmaker Judith Bronowski, that alebrijes gained solid prestige in the cultural environment, and due to their exclusivity and creativity, some of them became collector's items.
Pedro Linares López (1939 - 1992) received the National Prize for Sciences and Arts in the category of Popular Arts and Traditions in 1990, while the term “cartonero,” coined by Leonardo Linares, his grandson, came to designate the alebrije maker, causing many artisans, especially those from Oaxaca –who make their alebrijes in copal wood- to specialize in these pieces [See Behind a Mask, Mexican Popular Art: https://www.hilariobooks.com/cultural/behind-a-mask-mexican-popular-art ].
In 2006 a giant alebrije was sent to Glasgow, Scotland, by the Museum of Popular Art of Mexico City, which started the tradition of parades of these gigantic animals on the so-called Night of the Alebrijes, where, together with the Ministry of Culture and other local organizations, the most original works are awarded.
It should also be mentioned that the fame of the alebrijes skyrocketed internationally after their inclusion in the well-documented animated film “Coco,” by Disney Studios, released in 2017.
In the parade on the occasion of the Day of the Dead and after a long tour of the most prominent areas of the city, the alebrijes remain on display on Paseo de la Reforma –the central artery of the Federal District– until the end of the celebrations, when they are then put up for sale, indisputably incorporated into tradition, the world of art and in a well-deserved tribute to the beings who accompanied Pedro Linares on his hallucinatory first trip to the world of the dead.
The sons of Pedro Linares López, Felipe and Leonardo, great Mexican masters today, are heirs to the popular tradition of cartonería and hold high the legacy of their father, already with recognition and awards at national and international level. Like them, numerous artisans make them, the Mexican people as a whole have adopted them as their own.
Pedro Linares and his alebrijes, protagonists of stories, to enjoy on the internet:
Bronowski Judith, Pedro Linares 1975. The father of the alebrijes. Part 1. Documentary. SEE
Bronowski Judith, Pedro Linares Cardboard craftsman. (Papier maché artist). Documentary. SEE
Zantke, Hartmut, Alebrijes make me happy. SEE
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