Santa Muerte

Not to be confused with San La Muerte.
Our Lady of Holy Death
Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte
Close-up of a Santa Muerte statue south of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
Other namesLady of Shadows, Lady of the Night, White Lady, Black Lady, Skinny Lady, Bony Lady, Mictēcacihuātl (Lady of the Dead)
AffiliationA wide variety of powers including love, prosperity, good health, fortune, healing, safe passage, protection against witchcraft, protection against assaults, protection against gun violence, protection against violent death
Major cult centerShrine of Most Holy Death, Mexico City, Mexico
WeaponScythe
ArtifactsGlobe, scale of justice, hourglass, oil lamp
AnimalsOwl
SymbolHuman female skeleton clad in a robe
RegionPrimarily Central America, Mexico, and Southwestern United States (scant worship in the Caribbean, Canada, and Europe)
FestivalsAugust 15, November 2, and many public shrines celebrate the date of their founding

Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte (Spanish: [ˈnwestɾa seˈɲoɾa ðe la ˈsanta ˈmweɾte]; Spanish for Our Lady of Holy Death), often shortened to Santa Muerte, is a new religious movement, female deity, folk-Catholic saint,[1][2] and folk saint in Mexican folk Catholicism and Neopaganism.[3][4]: 296–297  A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees.[5] Despite condemnation by the Catholic Church[6] and Evangelical pastors,[7] her cult has become increasingly prominent since the turn of the 21st century.[8]

Santa Muerte almost always appears as a female skeletal figure, clad in a long robe and holding one or more objects, usually a scythe and a globe.[9] Her robe can be of any color, as more specific images of the figure vary widely from devotee to devotee and according to the ritual being performed or the petition being made.[10]

Her present day following was first reported in Mexico by American anthropologists in the 1940s and was an occult practice until the early 2000s. Most prayers and other rituals have been traditionally performed privately at home.[11] Since the beginning of the 21st century, worship has become more public, starting in Mexico City after a believer named Enriqueta Romero founded her famous Mexico City shrine in 2001.[11][12][13] The number of believers in Santa Muerte has grown over the past two decades,[when?] to an estimated 29 million followers who are concentrated in Mexico, Central America, and the United States with a smaller contingent of followers in Canada and Europe. Santa Muerte has two similar male counterparts in Latin America, the skeletal folk saints San La Muerte of Argentina and Paraguay and Rey Pascual of Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico.[13] According to R. Andrew Chesnut, Ph.D. in Latin American history and professor of religious studies, Santa Muerte is at the center of the single fastest-growing new religious movement in the Americas.[8]

  1. ^ Vincent, Isabel (21 December 2021). "Santa Muerte and five more 'religious' saints worshiped by drug cartels". New York Post. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  2. ^ Flannagin, Jake (September 2014). "The Rise of the Narco-Saints". The Atlantic. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  3. ^ Chesnut, R. Andrew (2016). "Healed by Death: Santa Muerte, the Curandera". In Hunt, Stephen J. (ed.). Handbook of Global Contemporary Christianity: Movements, Institutions, and Allegiance. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion. Vol. 12. Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 336–353. doi:10.1163/9789004310780_017. ISBN 978-90-04-26539-4. ISSN 1874-6691.
  4. ^ Flores Martos, Juan Antonio (2007). "La Santísima Muerte en Veracruz, México: Vidas Descarnadas y Práticas Encarnadas". In Flores Martos, Juan Antonio; González, Luisa Abad (eds.). Etnografías de la muerte y las culturas en América Latina (in Spanish). Cuenca: Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla–La Mancha. pp. 273–304. ISBN 978-84-8427-578-7.
  5. ^ Chesnut 2018, pp. 6–7.
  6. ^ Kingsbury and Chesnut 2019, The Church's life-and-death struggle with Santa Muerte, The Catholic Herald
  7. ^ Kingsbury and Chesnut 2020, Colonizing Death -American Evangelist Crusades Against Santa Muerte at Landmark Shrine in Tepito, Global Catholic Review
  8. ^ a b Chesnut, R. Andrew (26 October 2017). Santa Muerte: The Fastest Growing New Religious Movement in the Americas (Speech). Lecture. Portland, Oregon: University of Portland. Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Los Angeles believers in La Santa Muerte say they aren't a cult | The Madeleine Brand Show | 89.3 KPCC". 66.226.4.226. 2012-01-10. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
  10. ^ Velazquez, Oriana (2007). El libro de la Santa Muerte [The book of Santa Muerte] (in Spanish). Mexico City: Editores Mexicanos Unidos, S.A. pp. 13–18. ISBN 978-968-15-2040-3.
  11. ^ a b Garma, Carlos (2009-04-10). "El culto a la Santa Muerte" [The cult of Santa Muerte]. El Universal (in Spanish). Mexico City. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
  12. ^ Villarreal, Hector (2009-04-05). "La Guerra Santa de la Santa Muerte" [The Holy War of Santa Muerte]. Milenio semana (in Spanish). Mexico City: Milenio. Archived from the original on 2009-10-16. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
  13. ^ a b Chesnut 2018, pp. 26–50.