Cultural Notes
Los alebrijes de Oaxaca – short version
The Animal Carvings of Oaxaca
- Remember, expect this to be challenging.
- First, read the English version.
- Next, read the Spanish version.
- Click the control to hear the audio.
- Listen several times, following along on the transcript.
- Finally, listen without looking at the transcript.
- See how many words and phrases you can pick out.
- Then try the long version.
Short Version
The Animal Carvings of Oaxaca
Combine a centuries old tradition of wood carving with a fanciful sense of form, add the Mexican flair for bright, surprising color schemes, and you get the famous “alebrijes” – or animal carvings of Oaxaca. Long ago, Dominican monks taught the natives to carve copal, the local wood. Legend tells of a native Oaxacan that dreamed of strange talking animals. He began carving them, and they became popular. We visited a few workshops and learned that the men carve the figures, and the women paint them. We saw fantastic figures of rabbits, deer, armadillos, animals with people’s faces, and much more. We made several purchases, and were happy to to meet the unassuming, but talented artists.
Los alebrijes de Oaxaca
Una tradición centenaria de tallado en madera, combinada con un imaginativo sentido de la forma y el don mexicano de idear juegos de colores brillantes y sorprendentes. todo se combina en los alebrijes o figuras de animales tradicionales de Oaxaca. Hace mucho tiempo, monjes dominicos enseñaron a los oaxaqueños a tallar el copal, un tipo de madera local. Las leyendas cuentan que un oaxaqueño comenzó a soñar con extraños animales que hablaban. Decidió tallarlos, y se hicieron muy populares. Visitamos algunos talleres y aprendimos que los hombres tallan las figuras y las mujeres las pintan. Vimos representaciones fantásticas de conejos, venados, armadillos, animales con cara de persona, y mucho más. Hicimos varias compras y nos sentimos contentos de conocer a los modestos pero talentosos artistas.
