Mexican wood cut Alebrije (Pegasus) handmade from Oaxaca Mexico Sculpture

Original hand crafted from Copal wood in Oaxaca, hand painted and varnished. Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical (fantasy/mythical) creatures. The first alebrijes, along with the invention of the term, originated with Mexico City cartonero Pedro Linares. Linares often told that in 1936, he fell very ill, and while he was in bed unconscious, he dreamt of a strange place resembling a forest. There, he saw trees, rocks, clouds that suddenly turned into something strange, and some kind of animals but 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!"