Aluxes
- Origin
- Maya tradition: the Associated Press calls it traditional Maya belief, and the Calkiní telling, from Campeche, calls the alux the guardian of the Mayab. The earliest written record among these sources is Chan Kom, a Maya Village (1934) by Robert Redfield and Alfonso Villa Rojas, which reports that the bush was believed to be home to a small people called alux, the subject of many stories.
- How we treat it
- The label covers the belief and the offerings that go with it, as Maya communities practise them. It makes no claim that aluxes exist. It does not cover the photo Mexico's president posted in 2023, which was his own claim.
- Routes out
- Community voice first: José Norberto Uc Colí's telling from Calkiní, published in the Campeche collection Leyendas y Tradiciones del Camino Real (1996). Then Chan Kom (1934), the earliest written record here, by outside ethnographers; then AP (2023) on the belief today; Wikipedia last.
Aluxes are small beings of Maya belief said to live in the bush, forests and fields, guard the milpa and play tricks. Some people still leave them offerings.
In a telling from Calkiní, Campeche, by José Norberto Uc Colí, the alux is the guardian of the Mayab. In that telling, someone is taken to task for neglecting the offerings: the saká sweetened with honey and made from the best the land gives, the Han-lil-col once made in return for everything received, and the pom, or copal, no longer burned to scent the air. The speaker says the person's family and children now weep in pain and fear, that selfishness and wrongdoing were sown, and that punishment must follow.
The earliest written source cited is Chan Kom, a Maya Village (1934) by Robert Redfield and Alfonso Villa Rojas. They wrote that the bush was believed to be home to a small goblin people, the alux (plural aluxob), whose strange and mischievous acts were the subject of many stories. Wikipedia says some Maya hold that building a small house on a farm, usually in the milpa, calls an alux into being. For seven years it helps the maize grow, brings rain and keeps watch over the crops after dark, whistling to chase off animals and thieves. After seven years the farmer has to shut the little house's doors and windows with the alux inside; if he does not, it runs wild and starts playing tricks on people.
In 2023 Mexico's president posted a photo of what he said was one; an Associated Press headline called it an elf he claimed to have photographed. AP explained that traditional Maya belief holds aluxes to be small, mischievous beings of the forests and fields who play pranks such as hiding things, and that some people leave them small offerings to keep them content.
"Some Maya believe that the Aluxo'ob are called into being when a farmer builds a little house on his property, most often in a maize field (milpa). For seven years, the alux will help the corn grow, summon rain and patrol the fields at night, whistling to scare off predators or crop thieves. At the end of seven years, the farmer must close the windows and doors of the little house, sealing the alux inside. If this is not done, the alux will run wild and start playing tricks on people."
- El duende alux, cuidador del Mayab, José Norberto Uc Colí, told in Calkiní, Campeche; from Leyendas y Tradiciones del Camino Real (José Domingo Uc, CONAFE, 1996), via calkini.net
- Chan Kom, a Maya Village, Robert Redfield and Alfonso Villa Rojas (1934; 1962 edition)
- Mexican president posts photo of what he claims is an elf, Associated Press (2023)