Santisimo Muerte

Santisimo(a) Muerte

One of the most disturbing images to the uninitiated are the statues of death that appear in the windows of many of the shops here in the valley. At first glance, they definitely seem Satanic. However, I also noticed some candles that referred to death as "Santisimo Muerte." I was raised a Catholic, and I've certainly never thought of death as a saint.

I did a little research and found out that Death is a "banned saint" or a "folk saint." Santo Muerte can be represented as a male or a female figure. Since they are skeletons, you usually tell the difference by how they are dressed. The female version often wears a crown made of flowers. The female representation of death is used as resource by women to keep their men faithful. Women say "novenas" to death to keep their men in line. Some sources say she is a syncretized (I learned a new word!) version of an Aztec goddess called Mictecacihuatl, who ruled the underworld with her husband. I think his name was Bob. (Or maybe it was Mictlantecuhlti).

Santo Muerte is the male version. Some say he became popular in the 1960s with gangsters and criminals and then moved more mainstream. People pray to him for luck, paticularly in material things. He may also have been inspired by Native Americans interpretations of the Spanish concepts of the Angel of Death, the Holy Ghost, or the "holy death" one receives when given the last rites.