Santa Muerte
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Santa Muerte (Saint Death), also known as La Santísima Muerte (Most Holy Death) and Doña Sebastiana (Lady Sebastienne), is a religious figure who receives petitions for love, luck, and protection. Saint Death is often depicted as a skeleton dressed in a white tunic or wedding gown.
The Catholic Church has denounced the worship of Santa Muerte as a pagan tradition contrary to the Christian belief of Christ defeating death.
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[edit] Appearance
This Saint is frequently dressed as a grim reaper with a scythe and scales (the scales may be reminiscent of St. Michael). She may also be dressed in a long, white satin gown with a golden crown (Muerte, and its related Romance words, has a feminine gender). In this form, many devotees view her as a variation of the Virgin Mary.
Grim Reaper statues are made in red, white, green and black – for love, luck, financial success and protection. Offerings to Santa Muerte include roses, marijuana, cigarettes, fruit, candy and tequila. Public shrines to Saint Death are adorned with red roses, cigars,fruit and bottles of tequila, and Santa Muerte candles burn in her honor. Throughout Mexico, and in parts of the United States (especially in Mexican immigrant communities), Santa Muerte prayer cards, polichinels, medals, and candles are made and sold to the public.[1]
[edit] Origins
Santa Muerte's roots may lie in the beliefs of the Aztecs, who worshiped a god of death by the name of Mictlantecuhtli, along with his wife, Mictecacihuatl.
Similar to other cultures around the world, pre-Christian deities in Mexico are sometimes syncretized as pseudo-saints. On the other hand, in Spanish she is typically referred to as "la Santa Muerte," strictly speaking meaning "the holy death" rather than "Saint Death," which would correspond to "Santa Muerte," with no preceding article. Thus Santa Muerte may simply represent a reinterpretation by folk religion of the traditional and orthodox Roman Catholic practice of prayer to receive a blessed death in a state of grace.[2]
Her prayers, orations, and novenas contain the Trinity and worship of Yahweh. While some view Santa Muerte as a figure of black magic, others view her as a saint. Santa Muerte is revered by the Iglesia Católica Tradicionalista mexicana-estadounidense (Spanish for "Traditionalist Mexican-American Catholic Church"), a church unrelated to the Roman Catholic church.
[edit] See also
- Day of the Dead
- Death (personification)
- Death deity
- Maximón
- Not Forgotten (San Muerte was the main focus and source of conflict in the 2009 independent thriller) [3]
- San La Muerte
[edit] References
- ^ Saint Death comes to Chicago, The Chicago Tribune, May 26, 2008, accessed May 27, 2008.
- ^ "Santa Muerte: The New God in Town", Time, Oct. 16, 2007, accessed May 28, 2008.
- ^ Diaz, Victor (5 May 2009). "Tex-Mex indie drama debuts in Austin". Austin News 8. http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/?SecID=278&ArID=239733. Retrieved on 9 May, 2009.
