What’s Your Spirit?
BY FABRICE LE MAO
This year –or any other year– if you end up in Oaxaca during Dia de Los Muertos (also known as the Day of the Dead), be prepared to have your mind blown away. By the crowd and its generosity? Yes! By the ongoing effervescence? Of course! And also by the Alebrijes. Colorful and significant pieces of Aztec folklore, they will capture your attention as well as your soul.
The Alebrijes are spirit guides, as they were depicted in the 20-day cycle of the Zapotec calendar. Being strongly connected with nature, the Aztec people created these symbolic creatures mixing two living animals with anthropomorphic characteristics. For example, the jaguar, the eagle, and the serpent are the three animals representing power. The possum, the chameleon, and the iguana were known for their learning characteristics. The butterfly, the rabbit, and the deer showed movement. One would follow the advice of the dog, the frog, or the hummingbird. The owl was the healer, and so on. Their role was to link the spirits and the real world and guide a person through their lives. Spiritual guides for your soul, reminders of your place in the world, and society, holders of the torch; They are meant to lead you in your path and help you become who you are supposed to be. They connect with our deepest true selves and our shared imaginary realm.
With modern materials and design techniques, it has become easier to make more complex iterations of these fantastic creatures and cover the wooden or papier-maché sculptures with layers of patterns and motifs borrowed from the Zapotec era.
They are still colored with the traditional natural pigments –like it was done hundreds of years ago– to reflect the connection with nature. Moreover, each unique color connects to a feeling about the world. For example, yellow refers to legend or the village; black refers to the underworld, and red denotes power.
In the local stores, the small Alebrijes sculptures are still made from the Copal tree; a tree considered sacred by the Aztec. This tradition echoes with contemporary artists and their actions to preserve and manage the country's natural resources. Do artists decide which Alebrijes to make using their intuition - perhaps an intervention from the Alebrijes? What matters is that not only does the practice of keeping Alebrije alive at the hands of modern Oaxacan artists maintain the tradition, it also anchors the best parts of the wise Aztec culture in our present. Indeed, more than folklore, the Alebrijes now connect the Oaxacan (and Mexican) people with their cultural heritage.
To paraphrase Rick Lopez in his essay "The Noche Mexicana and Popular Arts": "To hold a piece of Mexican popular art in one's hand is to hold something larger than a mere object. You are holding Mexico in all its diversity, its rich past, its complex present, and its uncertain future."
Curious to know what your Alebrije is? Click here to find your spirit guide.