Santa Muerte

Recently, Fausta's Blog posted a thread about the widespread Mexican cult of Catholicism called Santa Muerte(female saint death), which is spreading into the USA as well as all over Mexico.

The central figure, Santa Muerte, is represented as a skelton dressed as death but with an echo of the traditional clothing of a female Catholic. According to the BBC, which reported on the cult, the figure of Santa Muerte is "...thought to stem from Mictecacihuatl, an Aztec goddess who presided over a festival of death every August."

The ceremony resembles a Catholic mass and is estimated to have 10 or 12 million followers. It is in the slums of about every Mexican city and is widespread in the USA with followers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles and elsewhere. It attracts the destitute, the criminal underground and the cartel narco-trafficers as well as LBGT people.

The Vatican has formally denounced the "skeleton saint" but the cult still has a huge following at their weekly meetings as well as their main holiday of November 1 and 2.

The BBC remarks, "Attendees will bring offerings such as tequila, beer, cigarettes, traditional snacks and flowers for Santa Muerte and deceased friends and family."

Santa Muerte: The rise of Mexico’s death 'saint'

 

Yes, the BBC mentions this and Mexicans in the USA have inserted Day of the Dead costumes into Halloween. Apparently all this comes from the Aztecs and an indigenous culture that never fully disappeared. Have you seen the pictures of Santa Muerte--she is one ugly thing, a lot like the Grim Reaper. The name is also translated as Holy Death, as you know.

Here is a foto:

 

Thanks, John Deere Fan, for that information! Don't have to apologize for not reading anything from the BBC. Do you read Fausta's Blog--she uses BBC from time to time? Do you know any Cuban dissidents? I also read Babalu Blog. Actually, I started reading the Cuban dissidents about three years ago and they linked to Fausta. She lives in Florida, also, although she is from Puerto Rico. She is a sort of clearing house for all things Latin American. Having seen this Day of the Dead stuff with your own eyes, what is your opinion of it?

 

Very interesting. One of the reasons that Cubans have been so successful in this country is that their island had the highest per capita income in all of Latin America before Castro.
I agree with you about Santa Muerte. One person said that it is a religion for criminals like those of the mafia who used to be so supportive of Catholicism.