There is plenty of documented history about how the handicrafts commonly known as alebrijes came to be linked with towns like San Martín Tilcajete. The term "alebrijes" originated in Mexico City, and the first crafts to be called as such were made out of papier mache. Manuel Jimenez brought the idea to the state of Oaxaca, where the copal wood was the element of choice for local carvers to use in these figures, due to its ease to work with as well as the symbolic significance of the tree. The majority indigenous population in this area of the state is the Zapotec, and their culture exerts a large influence. Bursera copallifera is one of the species best known as copal, as it name indicates, but several other trees in the Bursera genus have this common name too. For several indigenous cultures, copal was valued for its resin, often dried and burned as a type of incense, with the smell of its smoke said to be able to "awake the gods" for the Zapotec.
With alebrijes becoming one of Oaxaca's best-known crafts, along with masks and other carvings made out of copal, numbers of these trees began to decrease at an unsustainable rate. Morales himself noticed these issues and in 1994, he lead the first reforestation campaign in the area of Tilcajete and neighboring towns like Ocotlán. In the 21st century, the workshop of Jacobo and María Ángeles has become one of the most influential in the craft of alebrijes, often responsible for unusually large pieces with complex shapes, which require a large amount of copal wood. It was the Ángeles workshop that established Palo que Habla (which can be translated as Talking or Speaking Stick) in 2006, after the slow gathering of suitable land that started in the 2000s.
Palo que Habla is set up as a multifaceted and constantly growing project encompassing several conservationist aims, with the main one being the nursing and establishment of copal groves which can then be sustainably harvested for wood. Its terrains also feature water catchment areas, fields for growing commercial flowers and crops (heirloom corn and beans in particular), many of which are showcased in Almú, its onsite restaurant. One of the project's most interesting practices is the yearly "Adopta un Árbol" (Adopt a Tree) campaign, which includes a reforestation campaign by volunteers along with a system for donors to sponsor a tree that they can name.
For a few days, the eyes of the world were turned toward the Phanar for Pope Leo XIV’s first-ever trip abroad, his visit to the see of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and his official meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. This meeting was the subject of much commentary on various aspects. We will attempt here to emphasize the significance of this historical encounter and what the future might hold.
It should be emphasized from the outset that this was not the first visit of a Pope to the Phanar, nor the first joint declaration signed by a pope and an ecumenical patriarch. Indeed, Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis of blessed memory have all visited the see of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, where they were received by the Ecumenical Patriarchs Athenagoras, Dimitrios, and Bartholomew, and each of these meetings was the occasion for the signing of a joint declaration on the commitment of the two Churches to their rapprochement and their quest for the restoration of ecclesial communion.
Such encounters are the result of a historical event that took place exactly sixty years ago: the lifting of the regrettable anathemas of the year 1054 between the sees of Rome and Constantinople which took place during a ceremony simultaneously celebrated in Rome in St. Peter’s Basilica and in the patriarchal church at the Phanar on 7th of December 1965. In their joint declaration, Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras declared that they
“regret and remove both from memory and from the midst of the Church the sentences of excommunication […], and they commit these excommunications to oblivion.” (Common declaration, 4B).
What does this mean in practical terms? It means that there is no complete schism between the two Churches and that they find themselves in the same state of broken communion they were in at the beginning of the 11th century. What was the cause of that? The addition of the Filioque clause to the symbol of faith (creed) by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014.
But let us return to the meeting of Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew which more or less providentially coincided with the anniversary of the lifting of the anathemas and which, above all, had been placed under the aegis of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. It is significant that in his apostolic letter (encyclical) In Unitate Fidei, promulgated a few days before his first trip, on 23 November 2025, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Pope Leo XIV quotes the phrase from the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed without the Filioque, and noting in footnote 10 following this quote: “The statement ‘and proceeds from the Father and the Son (Filioque)’ is not found in the text of Constantinople; it was inserted into the Latin Creed by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014 and is a subject of Orthodox-Catholic dialogue.” This remark, in a papal encyclical, is of paramount importance because the official recognition of this addition by the Pope himself puts an end to a millennium of controversy that has contributed to deepening the abyss of division between the two Churches.
At the common prayer of November 28th, celebrating the anniversary of Nicaea, on the very site where it took place, presided by Pope Leo and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the presence of the Patriarch of Alexandria, official delegates of the ancient Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem, and representatives of all the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Protestant World Christian communions, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was recited together without the addition of the Filioque. Of course, this also did not happen for the first time. Already in 1987, during the official visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios to Rome, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was recited in the original Greek without the Filioque by both Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch. The same happened with Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis at several official liturgical occasions. This proves that the Filioque is not a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church: otherwise these three popes ought to be considered as heretics by their own Church. Very recently, during the ecumenical commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of the faith of the 21st century presided by Pope Leo XIV at the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls in Rome on September 14, 2025, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was recited, in Latin, without the Filioque!
These are the fruits of the theological dialogue to which the Churches are committed for more than forty years. Already in 2003, an important document of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation entitled: “The Filioque: A Church Dividing Issue? An Agreed Statement,” recommended that the Roman Catholic Church use the original Greek text alone, without the Filioque, in making translations of that Creed for catechetical and liturgical use. The same was repeated last year (2024) in a Common Statement of the Joint International Commission on Theological Dialogue between the Lutheran World Federation and the Orthodox Church on the addition of the Filioque clause to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol of faith, which suggested “that the translation of the Greek original (without the Filioque) be used in the hope that this will contribute to the healing of age-old divisions between our communities and enable us to confess together the faith of the Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381).” This gives us great hope for the future restoration of Christian unity on the basis of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed which was considered by the Church, at least since the 5th century, as a universal symbol of faith.
As indicated on various occasions by Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which has the official mandate of both Churches to work for the restoration of full ecclesial communion between the two Churches, is currently examining the issues of infallibility and the Filioque. In affirming in his address to Pope Leo on November 30th that “we can only pray that issues such as the “filioque” and infallibility (…) will be resolved such that their understanding no longer serve as stumbling blocks to the communion of our Churches,” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew did not ask the Pope for more than he can give, but gave hope that the restoration of communion between the two Churches, interrupted a millennium ago, could soon be re-established provided that the divided Christians grant their goodwill to this end.
Kind of fucked thinking about the fact that there is one single American legally authorized to research the critically endangered pygmy raccoon in Mexico and it is, in fact, the same person who did Dashcon.
This person is also this person
And is currently the only person from the United States legally permitted to research the critically endangered pygmy raccoons (Procyon pygmaeus) in Cozumel, Mexico.
For reference, this is me, BTW! I was 15 when I started Dashcon and 17 when it actually happens, and now study tourism’s impact on the critically endangered pygmy raccoon. I’ve been researching them before now, but due to Mexico’s laws, I’ve only been allowed to do data collection from abroad (so think surveys to tourists and video analysis on social media.) But now I’m authorized for in situ research!! Yippee! I even got a grant through my university as well to fund the whole project 🥺
This is the reason this hellsite is truly a homesite. We grow here. You can go back and see how it happened. I was a Bachelor’s student when I started my tumblr. Now I’m an Associate Professor and Curator, with my own lab and Denmark’s national collection of 70,000ish reptile and amphibian specimens in my care.
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