Yesterday Alejandro and I went to the 17th Parade of Monumental Alebrijes sponsored by the Museum of Popular Art.
Unlike the Day of the Dead Parade which draws more than one million spectators, the crowd for the Alebrije Parade is more manageable. The parade was scheduled to leave the Zócalo at noon, and at 11:45 we were still able to find a "front row" position along the parade route on Juárez Avenue.
Let me get the negative comments out of the way first. Like many similar events in Mexico, it is a rather chaotic affair, and for someone who wants to take photographs, it can be quite frustrating. The members of the organizations that have created the large, papier mache figures as well as their families march alongside the alebrijes. It is perfectly understandable that they want to be in the parade, but sometimes they completely surrounded the figures, making it hard to see them. Also, we made the mistake of standing near an intersection. In between every alebrije, people would cross the street. There were professional photographers standing in the way, and food vendors wheeling their carts and blocking the view. I was really irritated when a woman behind us, not once, not twice, but three times cut through the crowd, went into the street, and had her picture taken in front of an alebrije. I was really tempted to tell her, "We all want to take pictures, but not of you!"
In spite of the annoyances, it is a fun event. Out of the large number of photos and videos I took, there were quite a few that were decent.
So here is a look at the Alebrije Parade...
More to come of the Alebrije Parade.
Beautiful! Are these all papier mache? The rooster and some of the other bigger ones look like metal.
ReplyDeleteThey are all of "cartonería" which is like what we call papier mache and cardboard. They are, I suspect, covered with a very heavy coat of lacquer to protect that from the rain.
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