The Alebrijes (ali-bre-haze) were invented by revelations that Pedro Linares had when he got ill when he was 30 years old. No one could help him because medicine advances weren't available for Mexican poor people. His sisters tried to assist him but they didn't have success, they only could pry.
While he was in bed, unconscious, he was dreaming of a place, a different an estrange place, some kind of a Forrest, there were trees, animals, clouds, sky, rocks, etc. Suddenly, rocks, clouds and animals turned into something strange, some kind of animals, but, unknown animals. He saw a donkey with butterfly wings, a rooster with bull horns, a lion with eagle head, and all of them were shouting just one word, the word was "Alebrijes", every animal were shouting louder and louder: "Alebrijes, Alebrijes, Alebrijes!". The sound was terrible, he got a terrible headache and he ran through a stones road where a man was walking. Linares asked the man for help, he wanted to get out of there. The man told him that he shouldn't be there yet, the man said that he had to walk by that road and a few meters ahead, there was an exit. He ran and ran until he was in front of narrow window, he passed through that window and he woke up.
When he woke, he started to remember his dream and he wanted his family and everybody knows those animals, so he took a piece of paper and he molded those figures he saw. Then he painted them as he saw them in his dream.
Today the tradition lives on.

The Process of making Alebrijes
First, an armature is made from reed or wire in the shape of the final body. To build up certain areas, newspaper can be taped on when dry before adding the glued layers. A homemade paste is produced using flour heated up in boiling water. Sheets of plain brown paper or newspaper are added in layers to cover the frame until it is firm. The figure then has to dry thoroughly.

Variations of Alebrijes
The talented carvers of Oaxaca create, entirely by hand, wonderful mythical sculptures made from copal wood and their ingenious shapes with amazing patterns and colors have captivated collectors world wide. The Alebrijes is a amazing display of Mexican Folk Art.

Alebrijes ready to be Painted	Wood Sculptures getting Painted
Finished Alebrijes	Finished Alebrijes