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07/04/2004:

"Downtrodden join the cult of Saint Death, the 'miracle worker' of Mexico's slums"

Jo Tuckman in Mexico City Guardian UK
The Observer

Deep in the heart of the no-go Mexico City barrio of Tepito, a long queue of men, women and children wait patiently to get closer to a 6ft image of Saint Death and seek a favour.

Small-time drug traffickers wanted a guarantee against violent death or arrest, children asked for their fathers' release from jail, sick people sought a cure, shopkeepers prayed for higher sales, prostitutes looked for protection from disease and grannies begged for grandchildren to stay out of trouble.

These motley devotees of La Santa Muerte bore gifts of chocolates, tequila and cigarettes. One held a single red rose and candles for the fine 'lady skeleton' in flowing robes which clutches a scythe in one bony, bejewelled hand and the world in the other. When they reached the front of the queue they paused to kneel and kiss the saint's glass case.

'I have always prayed to the Virgin, but recently we began going to the Santíssima first,' said Ernesto López, a burly salesman of pirate DVDs who proudly raised his shirt to reveal a chest tattoo of the new object of his devotion. 'She understands us the best.

The cult of the Santa Muerte is booming in Mexico's jails and tough barrios, with their reputation for drug trafficking and violent crime.

There are no rules about how to worship her. At this Tepito shrine outside a run-down block of flats, a 'mass' and collective blessing is held on the first night of every month. It drew just a few dozen people a few years ago, but now there is no room to move.

The Catholic authorities are dismayed, but fear they will lose their congregations if they threaten expulsions. 'It is turning into a plague,' said Father Sergio Román, whose parish is in Tepito. He acknowledged he is powerless to stop the cult spreading: 'The church learnt a lot in the Inquisition. We know we have to respect other beliefs. They adore the Santa Muerte because of ignorance, not malice, and it is our fault for not preaching better.'

Anthropologists date the origins of the cult to the Spanish conquest that brought Christianity in contact with Aztec death worship. Church repression kept the tradition dormant for centuries until it resurfaced in poor urban areas.

Father Román said it returned to Tepito seven years ago as violent crime soared. This 'pushes people into the arms of the lady of death because they feel they need help staying alive'.

Miracles claimed by the Tepito devotees back this. Ricardo Romas was there, he said, to thank the Santa Muerte for jamming the trigger on a gun pointed at him. Claudia, a prostitute, wanted to keep her clients docile and Aids at bay. Guillermina Díaz's told how St Death multiplied the pieces of chicken she had to feed a hungry family.

Others insisted they were most attracted by the Santa Muerte's tolerance. Living on the edge of the law, they saw no reason to respect the religious authorities.

'When you go to church you get told off,' said López, the DVD salesman. 'But she does not discriminate. Here nobody cares who you are or what you do.'

"Anthropologists date the origins of the cult to the Spanish conquest that brought Christianity in contact with Aztec death worship"
O really?? How about "the Spanish conquest that brought the Aztec people into contact with Christian death worship?" They worship the image of a dead tortured guy on a cross, after all. I am sure that the people of Mexico are glad to hear that the Church learned from the Inquisition to be 'tolerant.' It tolerates the grinding poverty of non-white people the world over, after all, and looks to solve the problems of racism and injustice by 'preaching better.' At least la Santa Muerte does not discriminate. All are equal before her. It seems to me that these people from the slums of Mexico City have gotten to the very heart of the Christian teaching. As they should, having borne the brunt of it for all these centuries.