#LatinAmericanreligion

[wonderandwanderinginmexicocity]

There Is No God But Death

Walking downtown in the Zócalo district can be overwhelming: A thousand sights, sounds, and smells bombard your senses. The beautiful, wafting scent of freshly baked conchas clashes with the nearby stink of dog shit.  A motorcycle nearly runs over my foot as I make my way among other pedestrians, street performers, and vendors. I keep my hands in both pockets in case someone tries to lift my phone or wallet. In the heart of downtown is a well-traveled street full of regional restaurants, perhaps for Mexicans who moved to the big city but miss the kind of food their mother back home would make. Grasshopper tacos are available, if that sounds appealing. As I sit and enjoy my meal I can see a life size statue on the corner, looming over those passing by. She is tall and thin, merely a skeleton, robed in black and unmoving. At her feet people have left offerings of coins and candy. To someone from the U.S, she resembles the Grim Reaper, missing only a scythe. Who is she and why is she here? 

Unlike many Western cultures that do their best to ignore death or mitigate it through heaven or salvation, death has always been a part of life in Mexico. The Aztecs saw death as meaningful because it could serve a greater purpose: Dying in battle or childbirth was a death that brought honor both to the individual and society. Human sacrifice kept the universe running. Death was never far from any living thing, the Aztecs might have reasoned, so it is foolish to pretend otherwise. The skulls in modern day Mexican life and art are a modern adaptation of that memento mori mentality. 

The modern worship of Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte, or “Our Lady of Holy Death”, is also an extension of that worldview. Death is the only certainty in life and yet most of us try to avoid thinking about it. And yet the followers of Santa Muerte put death at the center of their faith. It is believed that one of the first worshippers of Santa Muerte asked for deliverance for a very sick loved one that was suffering (if this is beginning to sound like the Many-Faced God from Game of Thrones, that’s because it basically is). But then over time, followers of Santa Muerta began to ask Death for things they wanted in life: To find a job, a partner, protection from one’s enemies. At times, Santa Muerte wears different color robes and these signify different things people ask of her: Gold for wealth, red for love, black for protection against black magic. Believers leave offerings at the base of statues in exchange for her protection and blessings: Money, soda, fruit, cigarettes.

“The Skinny One”, as she is also known, exists outside the official organization of the Catholic Church. The church leadership does not accept the cult of Santa Muerte as legitimate Catholic practice, calling it “pagan” and “death worship”. Perhaps the church does not like the great focus on death when their doctrine teaches that for the faithful, heaven is the ultimate destination. Because the Skinny One is an outsider of the official Mexican religious establishment, she attracts outsiders as followers: Sex workers, thieves, and cartel members. It has been reported that drug traffickers brought their guns to a ceremony in Mexico City so their weapons would be blessed by Santa Muerte. This known association with undesirable elements does not help her reputation with the more mainstream masses. 

But what is the history of this shadowy saint? Are her origins Catholic, traditional or more contemporary? As is often the case in Mexico, it is a little bit of everything. 

Journalist Daniel Hernandez, an important source for this post, writes: 

"Some believe the image is a descendant from pre-Hispanic times, on the lineage of the Aztec god Mictlantecuhtli. Anthropologists maintain the Santa Muerte is a refashioning of San Pascual Rey, a Catholic saint with a long cult history in the Mayan lands of Chiapas and Guatemala, and whose traditional image is a frightening skeleton. Historican Claudio Lomnitz casts Santa Muerte's following in an economic light, arguing that it exploded after the onset of the American Free Trade Agreement, when the northern exodus of Mexican migrants across the border really took off."

Wherever she came from, Santa Muerte is incredibly popular in ways the traditional church is not, so the Skinny One is here to stay. I am not a religious person, but passing by I place a few coins at her feet and ask her to not let Donald Trump be re-elected. I don’t believe in these types of things, but “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Whether I like it or not, I am living in her country now. It never hurts to make friends. 

This privately owned shrine in Mexico City has public services twice a month.

The Big Three (from right to left): Saint Judas, a popular saint in Mexico City, Santa Muerte, and Jesús Malverde, a "Robin Hood" style figure who is venerated by drug traffickers.

#Santa Muerte #Religion #CDMX #Mexico #MexicoCity #Syncretism #Folklore #Catholicism #LatinAmerica #LatinAmericanreligion