As Protests Develop, Mexico President Tweets ‘Proof’ of an Elf

This weekend, tens of 1000’s of protesters gathered in Mexico City to protest a brand new legislation from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which they are saying threatens democracy of their nation. For not less than one second on Saturday, nevertheless, the president’s consideration was mounted elsewhere: on a grainy snapshot of what he stated “seems to be an [alux],” which in accordance with Mayan custom is a kind of goblin or elf.

López Obrador paired the picture, which he stated was taken by an engineer, with an image of a purported Alux sculpture on the Ek’ Balam architectural web site in Yucatan, Mexico. “Every thing is mystical,” López Obrador wrote. In the meantime, different Twitter customers identified that the picture seems to have been circulating for several years.

In response, some Twitter customers shared pictures from the continued protests. “I additionally need to share a photograph,” wrote consumer Rosi Martgom.

However simply what’s an Alux (pronounced “Aloosh;” plural Aluxo’b)? In response to an article by Mark F. Cheney, a scholar who research the Mayan, they’re lots like leprechauns. They’re regarded as mischievous creatures, standing simply 12 to 18 inches tall, and dwell in forests, gardens, maize fields or caves.

In response to an article written by Judith Storniolo, a researcher of Mayan languages and Native American tradition, the legend is regarded as drawn from the creation delusion of the Mayan ethnic group the Ok’iche’. The Ki’che’ believed that earlier than the creation of humanity, the gods created a race of dwarves out of mud, Storniolo writes. The dwarves had eyes that might see to the ends of time and constructed stone dwellings. After the dwarf folks behaved wickedly, nevertheless, their world was destroyed in an important flood, in accordance with “Maya Historical past and Faith,” revealed in 1970 by J. Eric S. Thompson. When the solar emerged, the dwarves have been then turned to stone. In Yucatec, the dwarves have been additionally described as “hunchback” or “bent,” though they have been known as “dwarf” in different Mayan languages, in accordance with Thompson.

Photographs of dwarves can now be discovered on meso-American artifacts, together with as funerary pots. The commonest are clay collectible figurines on the island of Jaina, which lies to the west of the Yucatan peninsula, Storniolo writes. In artwork, they’re usually depicted with spherical bellies, hats, and with beards.

At this time in rural Yucatan, the Aluxo’b are thought to be mischief makers—stealing instruments, tossing stuff on the ground, screaming within the night time. Nevertheless, when you deal with them effectively, they’ll additionally do you favors. Farmers go away them meals, alcohol and cigarettes to guard corn crops. Some additionally imagine that they dwell close to Mayan ruins to protect tombs. In different circumstances, they’ve been recognized to go viral on Twitter.

Contact us at letters@time.com.