They say that death doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints, but what if death becomes the saint?
When one encounters the word "saint," some may have an image of the well-known Saint Peter or Saint John the Baptist, but have you ever heard of Mexico's saint of death, drugs, and thugs? The Catholic Church condemns the Santa Muerte cult as a blasphemous and satanic “degeneration of religion,” claiming it as a menacing symbol of narco-culture. With shrines frequently found in hideouts of Mexican drug dealers, Santa Muerte is a saint associated with the region's narco underworld. She is “death personified,” commonly depicted as a bony woman with a skull for a head wearing a cloak and holding the iconic scythe said to collect the souls of the dead.
The Aztecs, who had a unique relationship with death, worshipped Mictecacihuatl (known as the “Lady of Death”), the goddess of death and ruler of the underworld. When the Europeans arrived in Mexico along with their images of the Grim Reaper, the image of the bony saint had transformed into the image of la Santa Muerte. Since then, her appearance has varied throughout history. In the eighteenth century, veneration of the saint appeared in local villages in Mexico but disappeared until the Second World War era. It was only in 2001 when Doña Queta placed a life-sized image of Santa Muerte in an underclass barrio known for its criminal activity that adoration for the saint came to surge.
The rise in popularity of Santa Muerte is hugely associated with her reputation as a death cult for criminals and drug traffickers. According to her followers, part of the attraction lies in her non-judgemental nature and her supposed ability to grant wishes in exchange for pledges and offerings. Believers would decorate, dress, and pray to a Santa Muerte figurine in the households, treating it as a highly-respected member of the family. They would even have votive offerings with colors that correspond to what they need, such as red for love, yellow for addiction, and even gold for wealth or prosperity. Worshippers believe that she is a part of the human’s life cycle and one must make her acquaintance.
As a religious cult, discrimination and exclusion from the church are not uncommon. However, the exponential growth of the veneration of Santa Muerte offers evidence of the church’s inability to reach out and hold the loyalty of the rural and underclass urban populations that traditionally identified as Catholic. Devotees who resolutely claimed Santa Muerte’s responsiveness shifted control over one’s personal relationship with God toward individual petitioners and away from the institutional church. They also represent a broader cross-section of the Mexican population than the Catholic church is able to attract. To them, death serves as a "great equalizer", referring to it as a natural occurrence that happens to all people, and their worship of Santa Muerte displays their respect for the natural cycle of life.
References
Bromley, D. (2016). Santa Muerte as Emerging Dangerous Religion? Religions, 7(6), 65. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7060065
History 101. (2022, June 29). Santa Muerte: The saint known as our lady of holy death. History 101. Retrieved June 29, 2022, from https://www.history101.com/santa-muerte-our-lady-of-holy-death/
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Michalik, P. G. (2014, June 13). The meaning of death: Semiotic approach to analysis of syncretic processes in the cult of Santa Muerte. Repositorio Universidade Coruña. Retrieved June 29, 2022, from http://hdl.handle.net/2183/13361
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About the authors
This article was jointly written by Alexis Bienne Montaller, Niña Alexandra Cadiong, Maria Jessica Sakay, and Sophia Chareese Estoquia, members of the ALAC Advocacy Department's Research Team.
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