Alebrije

**Alebrije** is a Limited edition stamp in SLOWLY. This can be unlocked when you visit Mexico during this special day .

## Information

**Alebrijes** are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical (fantasy/mythical) creatures.

The monos de madera or alebrijes as they are called in Spanish were originally created by carver Manuel Jimenez but soon became so popular that other people from his town and a few other communities in Oaxaca began carving to have an extra income. The first alebrijes, along with the invention of the term, originated with Mexico City *cartonero* Pedro Linares. Linares often told that in 1943, he fell very ill. While he was in bed unconscious, he dreamt of a strange place resembling a forest. There, he saw trees, rocks, and clouds that suddenly transformed into strange unknown animals. He saw "a donkey with butterfly wings, a rooster with bull horns, and a lion with an eagle head", and all of them were shouting one word *"Alebrijes! Alebrijes! Alebrijes!"* Before this happened, he was already a cartonero artisan. Upon recovery, he began recreating these Chimera-like creatures that he had seen in cartonería, the making of three-dimensional sculptures with different types of papers, strips of papers and engrudo (glue made out of wheat flour and water).

His work caught the attention of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo because they used to purchase Judas figures from Pedro Linares. In the 1980s, British filmmaker Judith Bronowski arranged an itinerant Mexican art craft demonstration workshop in the United States featuring Pedro Linares, Manuel Jiménez, and Maria Sabina, a textile artisan from Oaxaca. Although the Oaxaca valley area already had a history of carving animals and other types of figures from wood, artisans from Oaxaca learned of the alebrijes papier-mâché sculptures when Bronowski's workshop took place. Linares demonstrated his designs on family visits and these were adapted to the carving of a local wood called copal; this type of wood is said to be magical, made from unitado magic. In the 1990s, the artisans of Oaxaca began to use the word Alebrije to designate their figures carved in wood.

The papier-mâché-to-wood carving adaptation was pioneered by Arrazola native Manuel Jiménez. This version of the craft has since spread to a number of other towns, most notably San Martín Tilcajete and La Unión Tejalapan, and has become a major source of income for the area, especially for Tilcajete. The success of the craft, however, has led to the depletion of the native copal trees. Attempts to remedy this with reforestation efforts and management of wild copal trees has had limited success. The three towns most closely associated with alebrije production in Oaxaca have produced a number of notable artisans such as Manuel Jiménez, Jacobo Angeles, Martin Sandiego, Julia Fuentes, and Miguel Sandiego.

Text from wikipedia. image from alebrijes.net.

## Method

This stamp is unlocked by logging into your account while inside the country during this special day. Any other local stamps will also be unlocked at the same time.

You will keep it and be able to send to other penpals even after you return from your trip.