R. Andrew Chesnut Dedicated to Death

The religion of the mafia, criminals, drug lords, police officers, prostitutes and more than ten million people - Holy Death not only promises every apologist an equal approach, but also paradoxically teaches one to come to terms with difficulties in one’s own life and not commit suicide. You know this cult from the latest James Bond film and the Breaking Bad series. Our Mexican contact Karina Abdusalamova, on instructions from samizdat, set off on a journey through the outskirts of the country to find the roots and followers of the cult of Holy Death and find out what they believe.

On a Monday afternoon, I stand among bleating goats, squealing tropical birds and purring chinchillas in Mexico City's main witch market, Sonora. Colorful lords in embroidered skirts walk imposingly between the rows of rampaging living creatures, choosing either a pet for their grandchildren or a more well-fed victim for sacred rituals. I move towards shops with magic candles, voodoo dolls and plastic Negro babies of the Yoruba people. Finally, among the absurdly taxidermied stuffed squirrels and dried stingrays, I find her - Santa Muerte, or Holy Death. Dozens of statues of different colors and sizes, with gilded braids and elegant robes. The seller enthusiastically asks me what I'm looking for, but immediately loses interest as soon as he learns that I came to the market for information. “We only trade here,” he snaps. In another shop I am sent to pavilion number one hundred and fifty-six, in which the medium of Saint Death works, but which I, however, find closed. A girl named Fanny listens sympathetically to my rebuke about the need to spread the glory of Santa Muerte in Russia, tells me about a place called Tultitlan, where the main temple of Holy Death is located - a place of national and international pilgrimage for nonconformists from the religion.

The cult of Saint Death in the country began to actively spread in the mid-sixties, presumably in the city of Catemaco in the state of Veracruz, which gained fame as the Mexican capital of witchcraft. The traditional pagan beliefs of the natives there live in symbiosis with, the religion of Afro-Cuban slaves brought into the country through the main port of Mexico, which is located in the same state. According to legend, the image of Saint Death in a red robe was seen by one of the shamans of Catemaco in a sacred dream, he carried the word to the people, and soon the belief began to acquire attributes characteristic of the cult: altars and illegal churches appeared in other states of Mexico, and figures of death along with statues of Jesus, Saint Jude and the Virgin of Guadalupe entered mass production. The number of Santa Muerte adherents is growing inexorably: over the past twelve years, the cult has gained more than ten million followers in the country and abroad. However, both the state and the Catholic Church are strongly opposed to the deification of death: Catholic websites publish videos of exorcism ceremonies, where apostates from the faith are brought who have made a pact with devilish forces.

Mexican priests do not distinguish between the devil and death, considering all non-traditional religious sects to be an atheistic heresy. “They think that deifying death will protect them from death,” comments José Luis Segura, parish priest of the Church of La Ruana in Michoacán, “which is the same as believing that deifying a scorpion will protect them from the sting of another scorpion.”

The reputation of the cult is also affected by the fact that the image of Saint Death is extremely popular among the Mexican drug mafia and criminal elements. It is generally accepted that for Santa Muerte there are neither good nor bad - she protects everyone who turns to her for help, which is why among her advocates there are so many representatives of marginal elements: prostitutes, drug dealers, thieves, bandits, as well as all those whose Professional life is associated with risk - military and police. Some followers of Santa Muerte also worship other, less sympathetic figures such as Saint Jesus Malverde, the patron saint of drug dealers, or affiliate themselves with related religious doctrines such as Santeria. The most scandalous case that opponents of Santa Muerte appeal to occurred in 1989 and is associated with the name of Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, a follower of the African religion Palo Mayombe and the leader of a gang of “narco-Satanists” who organized a series of murders, thirteen of which were committed in the form of human sacrifices. Among the religious paraphernalia found at the ranch where the rituals were held, police also found statues of Santa Muerte. Since then, Christians have been unable to find peace for themselves, continually blaming Holy Death for new fatal incidents. In 2014, a series of teenage suicides that occurred in the small city of Cartagena de Michapan in the state of Veracruz were linked to the activities of the cult. According to local priest Luis Lagunes Hernandez, the suicides are directly related to the influence of the cult of Saint Death, since three out of four teenagers who committed suicide were from families whose members were members of the cult. However, no other connections were found, and the priest’s statement remained unproven.

Another important fact must be taken into account: 90% of the champions of Holy Death are zealous Catholics, for whom belief in death is nothing more than a continuation of faith in God, who symbolizes life. Even elements of the worship of Santa Muerte are inherited from the Catholic religion: for example, the pilgrimage to the site of the Holy Death is performed by some adherents on their knees with a statue of the saint in their hands - just like the pilgrimage to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Mexican equivalent of the Virgin Mary. And in one of the most disadvantaged areas of Mexico City, Tepito, there is the Catholic Church of Santa Muerte, which holds traditional Catholic services, the only difference being that images of death are hung on the walls - and nothing more. In the most daring interpretations, Santa Muerte turns out to be the Virgin Mary, others consider Holy Death to be God's servant, others treat her with tenderness and trepidation, calling her “white girl”, “skinny” and “beauty”. And if the image of death is more or less interpreted and understandable, then the portrait of its followers has very vague features. Who are they? Immoral criminals? Religious fanatics? Truth seekers? Are they afraid of death? What kind of relationship do they have with this very death? I went to look for answers to these questions in the state of Mexico, which has gained notoriety due to the widespread practice of kidnapping.

The commuter train arrives at Lecheria station, from where a portal opens to another dimension - the city of Tultitlan with the tallest statue of death in the world. So high that it was even included in the Guinness Book of Records - twenty-two meters, almost twice as high as a standard Khrushchev building. The surroundings of Tultitlan, like the songs of the Laibach group, are industrial and homeless: the polished steel chimneys of factory buildings rise above the roofless shacks that are scattered across the gentle gray hills. If someday the city is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, you won’t have to think long about the wording: “Tultitlan, forgotten by God, protected by death.” On the way from the station to the temple, every now and then you come across stops with poetic names like Bello Horizonte - a beautiful horizon - which in fact turns out to be a concrete wall surrounded by barbed wire. There is stifling heat on the bus, the motionless faces of the passengers are covered with perspiration: we are rafting down the River Styx, a little more - and Charon will give me a nod of his head: my stop.

The entrance to the Santa Muerte sanctuary is through the souvenir shop. The temple itself is located in the fresh air: along the perimeter it is framed by a palisade of altars with skeletons dressed in lush Victorian outfits of various colors, and this procession is crowned by a black Guinness Santa Muerte with arms extended friendly for a hug. The wall behind the giant statue is covered with intricate drawings: the eye is drawn to a portrait of some rapper in a white jacket, similar to Tultitlan's Puff Daddy. He, like the statue, stands with his arms outstretched, and a panther seems to be rushing at him from behind. Other characters on the wall also include two variations of Saint Death, in the style of early Wu Tang Clan, and a woman wearing a pink feather headdress. Drawings on other walls refer to the pre-Christian historical era: shamans with the heads of wild cats, totems made of skulls, the feathered snake Quetzalcoatl - one of the main deities of the Aztec pantheon.

At one of the altars, a young woman is kneeling, her little daughter is running at a distance. Twenty-three-year-old Norma agrees to talk to me about how Holy Death entered her life: “Three years ago a visitor came to my husband’s workshop and told us about the White Girl. Of course, at first it was a little scary: I grew up in a family of devout Catholics, but curiosity overcame fear. I then came to the temple and asked her to fulfill one request, and she fulfilled it. From now on, I bring red apples to the altar every eight days as a sign of gratitude.”

Red and yellow apples, flowers, cigarettes, alcohol and sweets are traditional offerings to Santa Muerte. At the altars there are bottles of tequila, rum and aguardiente, half-smoked cigarettes, lollipops and chocolate medals - as if someone interrupted the party in the middle and forced the guests to go home. Norma says that adherence to a cult does not prevent her from going to an ordinary church and believing in God: “As they explain to us in this temple, you can believe in anything, the main thing is to respect the saints. I have a separate place for both my Virgin of Guadalupe and White Girl. I love Jesus, but no matter how much I asked him for help, everything remained unanswered, and Most Holy Death immediately helped me.” People come to Santa Muerte for different things: some ask for well-being in the family, good luck, work, health and money, while others want revenge - they ask to avenge their loved ones or remove a competitor. It is believed that Santa Muerte helps everyone indiscriminately, but problems begin when the supplicant does not fulfill his promise to the saint. “When you ask the Most Holy One for something, you also promise to give her something in return when she fulfills your desire. Many people, in desperation, make promises they cannot keep. Of course, this makes the Girl angry.” A few months ago, Norma's husband was officially baptized with Holy Death, and is now one of her sons. However, having received what he wanted - work and money - he stopped visiting the temple and soon left the family in search of a better life. The last thing Norma heard about him was that he had already lost his job due to problems with alcohol.

Another apologist of the cult, sixty-four-year-old blues musician Ruben Garcia, says that he asks only for peace from the Holy Death: “People are not afraid of death as such, but of dying unworthy. If everyone had the opportunity to die painlessly, with a smile on their face, would they be afraid of death? Ruben, like many followers of the cult, came to Saint Death at a moment of despair, when many years of depression almost brought him to the final step, but this step was never taken - faith saved him. I asked Ruben if he knew how common suicide is among cult adherents, whether people kill themselves as a sacrifice to Holy Death. To which he replied: “Catholics and Christians only think about how to save themselves after death, but we are looking for salvation in life itself, asking Santa Muerte for protection and help in order to live our lives with dignity. I'm not familiar with the statistics, but if you mean mass or ideological suicides, as happened with Jonestown*, then this does not happen here. People begin to believe in Holy Death, and through faith they come to understand themselves.”

*Johnstown- revolutionary suicide of nine hundred and nine people from the People's Temple sect community on November 18, 1978 in northwestern Guyana. The destructive cult was created by American Jim Johnson, a mass suicide with cyanide occurred after the sect leader ordered the execution of five people, including US Congressman Leo Ryan. One of the most famous mass suicides in history.

Every Mexican has watched the film "Macario", an adaptation of the novel by the mystical writer Bruno Traven about the poor peasant Macario, who went hungry all his life, giving food to his children. Macario's cherished dream was a turkey that he could eat whole and alone, without sharing it with anyone. When Macario suddenly gets such an opportunity, he goes into the forest, away from the eyes of curious people, but there a number of interesting meetings happen to him: first, Satan comes to the peasant, who asks for a piece of turkey, and is refused, then a hungry Lord God appears - Macario does not share and with him, but when death asks for dinner, the peasant does not refuse it, because before death everyone is equal.

The attitude of death as a friend can also be seen in another traditional Mexican image, Katrina, an elegantly dressed skeleton in a hat. It was invented by illustrator and cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada in 1910. The image of Katrina became a reaction to the social injustice that reigned in Mexican society at the beginning of the 20th century. Catrina appears at the very end of the thirty-year dictatorship of President Porfirio Diaz, heralding the beginning of the Great Mexican Revolution - the main symbol of the struggle for equality in the country's history.

For many adherents of the cult, the worship of death is an homage to the religious beliefs of the Aztecs, for whom the fear of death did not exist in their culture. The celebration of the Day of the Dead (at night from the first to the second of November) is an echo of pagan traditions that survived Cortez with his double Catholic morality. Death loses its meaning if once a year you can gather in a cemetery and feast with the dead. Fun suits Mexican death, because there is plenty of both (death and fun) in Mexico.

Another strategic agent of death for me was sixteen-year-old Edith, whom I found picking rotten apples at the altars. Edith has been working in the temple for several months, but Holy Death has always been present in her life - family influence. Edith explained the popularity of the cult as follows: “Well, look, let’s take, for example, anti-dandruff shampoo: you buy it, but it doesn’t get rid of your problem. Would you buy it again? Of course not. So it is with the saint. If she didn't grant wishes, no one would come back, but people come again and again, bringing friends and family, because death really is miraculous. Of course, it also happens that people ask for something impossible, and then come and complain that they were deceived. So, last week a lord came and asked Saint Death to help him win the lottery, so he spent all day buying tickets, instead of investing the money in some business.”

“Well, what’s wrong with the Catholic Church? Doesn’t God grant wishes?” - I ask. “They don’t go to the Catholic Church now for God’s sake, they go there to discuss each other. Today they don’t even allow you to go there in a torn shirt, but what about people who have this only shirt? Will God really refuse a poor man just because he doesn't look the part or because he smells bad? The Catholic Church is more about status than about faith.”

Edith briefly tells me about the hierarchies and purposes of different Deaths: the one dressed in fatal red helps to cope with problems of a love nature, the one dressed in yellow is responsible for finances, the blue one gives knowledge, the one dressed in ivory - protection, the one who Jesus in her arms is called “compassionate,” but I still don’t understand whether she helps everyone or only if you are the son of God. The mystery of the Mexican P Diddy is also revealed, who turns out to be none other than Commandant Panther, the founder and godfather of the cult in Tultitlan. The temple was founded on December 27, 2007 with the erection of a statue in the middle of a deserted wasteland, and already on July 31, 2008, Commandant Panther was killed. His mother, Enriqueta Vargas, desperate to complete the investigation begun by the operational authorities, promised Santa Muerte to continue her son’s work if she revealed the name of the killer to her. Almighty death helped Enriqueta find out the truth, and she, in turn, began to fulfill this promise: a round dance of altars appeared near the giant statue, then benches were installed for parishioners, the territory of the temple was paved, and Enriqueta became the godmother of the cult.

Suddenly everyone rises from their seats. I see a woman of about fifty, three items of clothing are leopard print - of course, this is what the mother of the Panther commandant should look like! First, she gathers all the children around her, hugging and kissing each one - Mary Poppins from Saint Death. Then the official part begins. The service opens with the words: “There are no military, no police, no criminals here, everyone gathered here is brothers to each other.” Someone hands me a melted chocolate wafer. Then musicians appear with drums and sea shells, Enriqueta brings the microphone closer to the mouth of a frightened girl of about five years old, gives a sign, and she emits a heart-rending scream of “SAAAAANTAAA MUUUUUUEEEERTEEEEE”. The musicians play a pagan melody, and the episode with the girl is repeated (four times), then the godmother asks Holy Death to give everyone health and strength. I close my eyes and let the pagan melodies take me back to the times of Emperor Moctezuma the First, who does not yet know that ships of arrogant colonialists will soon land on the shores of his fertile, free lands. They will bring pork, and eating hairless dogs will no longer be fashionable. They will bring new diseases, and it won’t even be necessary to kill half of the indigenous population. They will bring Catholicism and everyone will be guilty. Everyone will be ashamed, everyone will be scared. Celebrations in honor of Mictlantecuhtli, the god of death wearing a necklace of human eyes, will be prohibited. The fun will be cancelled. Monuments will be destroyed. The heretics have been destroyed. The music stops. I can hear a conversation between two seniors - they are planning to go together to a service in another, now Catholic, church.

¡Que vive Santa Muerte! (Let Holy Death live) - Enriqueta shouts into the microphone. “Let Holy Death live!” - the seniors echoed her, distracted from the conversation.

I will simply write questions to which I myself cannot yet obtain reasonable answers. Maybe you can answer them? Let's try?

Have you ever seen someone off on their last journey? Did any of your loved ones or acquaintances die?

This is perhaps the simplest of today's questions and it doesn't matter what answer you give now, because the next questions will be... ahem...

Can you imagine someone from your circle cutting off a hand, finger, part of a leg, head, etc. from a deceased loved one “as a keepsake”? I cut it off, froze/dried/mummified it, basically processed it so it wouldn’t rot, put it on a shelf and admired it, and also showed it to others, saying, “here, this is the right finger of my beloved grandfather’s left hand, and this is my sister’s left hand, and this is the head ..." and like that...

What do you think those around you will say if suddenly you decide not to bury your loved one, but to dismember him and keep his severed body parts for yourself? Will they praise you, scold you, put you behind bars or send you to a mental hospital?

In the event of your death, would you like your body to be cut into pieces, mummified and stored?

Are you still reading these lines? Tell me, what kind of nonsense and savagery is this? How can you even imagine this?.. Are you shocked?..

Why aren’t you shocked that crowds of people come to the preserved body parts of one of those who were called “saints” for certain “merits”? Why aren’t you shocked that dismembered parts are transported all over the world and sometimes kilometer-long queues line up just to see and touch a finger/head/arm/leg, etc. in the hope of... for healing or something else?!. Aren't you shocked by this?..

Below is publicly available information that you can find on the Internet if you wish:

Back in the 19th century, it was estimated that various churches and monasteries in Europe kept as sacred relics:

- 3 intact mummified prophet Elijah;
- 18 skulls and 12 hands of the Apostle Philip;
- 9 skulls of the Apostle Luke;
- 2 heads, 17 arms and legs and 5 torsos of St. Andrew the First-Called;
- 20 fragments of the body and 26 heads of St. Julian;
- 5 torsos, 6 heads, 17 arms and legs of St. Andrew;
- 13 hands of Saint Sebastian;
- 15 hands of John Chrysostom;
- 8 heads, 6 legs and arms and 2 torsos of St. Anne;
- 30 torsos of St. Gregory;
- 30 torsos of Saint Pancras;
- 11 index fingers, 7 jaws, 9 hands and 7 heads of John the Baptist (and in honor of the discovery of each head of the Baptist, special holidays were established in the Orthodox and Catholic churches!)

Do I need to comment or are the conclusions quite obvious? Of course, I personally cannot confirm with 100% certainty that every number from the list above is correct, but the fact itself is, firstly, a forgery, and secondly, the nurturing of the idea that touching dead parts of the body will help in “..... "In general, no comments...

But what is this if not a death cult?
Why has a huge amount of relics of dead people been accumulated?
Why are the living encouraged to venerate these dead remains?
Why is the cult of modern religion built on martyrdom, and martyrdom is elevated to a feat and almost all saints are people who, in one way or another, accepted martyrdom?
Why is the image of the murder weapon elevated to the rank of a holy attribute and is not discarded, people pray to it, a small copy of it is worn under a shirt on the body, and a large copy is carried through the streets of cities at great celebrations...
Why is eating something imagining that you are eating flesh and drinking blood considered the norm, and not an act of cannibalism?
Why why why...

Can you answer these questions?

But that is not all...

Last question for today: do you know that there are entire chapels and churches in which the interior is created from tens of thousands of bones of dead people (!)

One of the most famous is located in the Czech Republic, in Prague, for the creation of the INTERIOR in which 40,000 bones were used!!!

Here, for example, is a chandelier made from the remains of deceased people, against the backdrop of other interior attributes made of bones:

In addition to it, there are many more similar structures around the world, here is data about some of them from open sources, from Wikipedia:

Name	Photo	Location	Description
Capuchin crypt in Santa Maria della Concezione		Italy Rome	The bones were moved in the mid-17th century from the old Capuchin cemetery, located near the Trevi Fountain, and placed in the crypt of the church. In total, the crypt contains the bones of four thousand monks who died between 1528 and 1870. In the fifth room of the crypt there is a skeleton of Princess Barberini, the niece of Pope Sixtus V, who died in childhood.
Ossuary in Sedlec		Czech Republic, Kutna Hora	Created at the beginning of the 16th century as a result of the transfer of remains from the cemetery of a Cistercian monastery. About 40,000 human skeletons were used to decorate the chapel. The chapel acquired its present appearance in 1870: bell-shaped piles of bones are placed in the corners of the cathedral, and in the nave there is a huge bone candelabra decorated with garlands of skulls. Other works of art include the altar monstrances flanking the altar, as well as the large Schwarzenberg family coat of arms.
Capela dos Ossos		Portugal, Evora	The decoration of the chapel was created in the 16th century by a Franciscan monk. About 5,000 human skeletons were used, the bones of which were cemented into its walls.
Ossuary in Hallstatt		Austria, Hallstatt	The ossuary arose due to a lack of land for burials. In the local cemetery, since the 16th century, every ten years the bones of the deceased were removed from the ground, bleached, the skulls were painted (they were marked with the name, profession and date of death of the deceased) and put on display in the local chapel of St. Michael.
Catacombs of Paris		France Paris	The ossuary was created at the end of the 18th century in the abandoned quarries of Tomb-Isuar at a depth of 17.5 meters. Initially, the remains of people from the Cemetery of the Innocents were placed in it: about two million skeletons were taken out of the cemetery at night over the course of fifteen months, disinfected and placed in a quarry. Then the ossuary was replenished with human remains from 17 more cemeteries in Paris. Currently, the catacombs contain the remains of almost six million people.

Why does THIS even exist in our “civilized” world?

Why is it that when they show us on TV how in some distant “Mumba-Yumba” tribe the Papuans venerate the skull or limbs of a deceased leader, we shake our heads and say “what a horror, but what can we take from them, savages...”, not noticing that the same attributes and symbolism surround us in everyday life - a mummy in a mausoleum, a huge number of which are not clear judging by the number of remains in temples, interiors made of human bones in chapels, etc...

Enough questions for today...

And finally, a few videos

Adherents of the cult claim that Holy Death works miracles. Sometimes she is revered more than Jesus, because it was death that took him, therefore she is stronger.

It is believed that she helps where other Saints are powerless. Often, people refuse help from the Catholic Church, citing the fact that it only teaches and does not help. But Saint Death makes no exception for anyone - everyone is equal before her: a prostitute, a policeman, a seller of pirated CDs, a politician, and even a drug dealer.

Here's what the locals say: “She just helps, and doesn’t poke your nose into your sins. She does not demand to wait for years for a miracle, she simply fulfills the request. And what kind of desire this is is on your conscience. And you yourself are responsible for it...

“It doesn’t matter what you give her: flowers, an apple, a joint of marijuana, candles, or anything else. It is important that it comes from the heart. Whether you are a crime boss, a homosexual, poor or rich, sick or healthy, smart or stupid - it doesn’t matter! Santissima has no prejudices, she never blames anyone. She is ready to help for free."

However, many, before praying to this Saint, first turn to Jesus, asking permission for this prayer.

“People ask for what they want - it’s up to them. Someone simply comes for a blessing, someone prays for the child’s recovery, someone wants to free their brother from prison, someone asks for fair retribution, and someone wants to bring damage to an enemy or offender. There is nothing wrong with revenge if there is really a reason for it, otherwise everything can turn against you. Santissima can’t be bad, it’s just that sometimes bad people come to her and ask for bad things.”

Santa Muerte's main areas of competence are love and money matters, as well as protection from violent death and illness. First of all, she protects those who work at night and risk their lives almost every day: police officers, drug dealers, “barrel fairies,” taxi drivers and mariachi musicians. It is precisely the justice attributed to the Holy One that makes her so attractive to everyone who considers themselves undeservedly deprived by society or fate.

Initially, the cult arose in villages among the poor population, over time becoming popular in criminal circles, and much later it also attracted wealthy residents of big cities. But even today, the main places for holding rituals are concentrated in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The first Temple of Santa Muerte was opened in Mexico City in 1999; until that moment, altars dedicated to her were only in private homes.

Outwardly, the new Mexican Saint resembles the well-known image of death - in a hood and with a scythe. She has a scale in one hand. In the other there is a globe, meaning that all people on the planet are subject to it. The ball also symbolizes justice and equality for everyone, regardless of origin and status. Sometimes Santissima appears in a white dress and with the attributes of the Virgin Mary - the embodiment of purity and innocence. Hence another name for her - White Girl (Niña Blanca).

According to legend, people previously did not know death, but, tired of the hardships of endless life, they turned to God with a request to send them deliverance. God appeared to the young beautiful girl he had chosen and said that from now on she would become Death - a disembodied spirit that draws a line under human life and ends the suffering of the earthly path. At that same moment, her body disintegrated, her beautiful young face turned into a bare skull and, having received a scythe from the hands of God, Death set off on her way across the earth...

For Santa Muerte, special chapels are set up, with an altar and the main statue of the Deity (a female skeleton dressed in a magnificent elegant dress). Also, the image of Saint Death can be presented in the form of a colored figure or painting. The specifics of the sanctuary depend on the problems the believer hopes to solve. The color of Santissima's cape can be almost any color, and each has its own meaning.

• The traditional robe is white - a symbol of immaculate purity.
• To help in love affairs, Muertita's cape should be red.
• To resolve problems with the law - green.
• To overcome financial difficulties - gold (symbol of prosperity) or yellow.
• Black Death is a force that conquers life's obstacles.
• Santa Muerta in blue or purple - the awakening of mystical abilities, connection with the world of spirits.
• Quite often there is a Saint in a rainbow robe who can solve all problems at once.

Many small figurines are sold in the markets for the construction of home altars. Almost every merchant has a figurine of Saint Death on the counter with dollars glued to it, or it can stand in a box filled with coins.

Images with long brown or black hair are also common. And in gangster circles, statues of the Goddess are sometimes built from the most natural skeletons of deceased enemies.

Many fresh flowers are brought to her altar - red and white roses, marigolds, carnations, tuberose, tulips. Those that have faded are immediately replaced.

Fruits are also part of the traditional offerings, and of course they must be fresh. Red and yellow apples (a symbol of prosperity) are especially honored. Santissima will not refuse coconuts, pineapples, mangoes, watermelons and bananas.

Often she is presented with various sweets - chocolate, honey, sweets, lollipops, even Coca-Cola and chewing gum - so that life is sweet and without bitterness. Alcoholic drinks are also included in the gifts. Tequila, rum, anisette, cognac, wine, liqueur, and sometimes beer, which must be in glass containers.

The White Girl also loves cigarettes and cigars. This helps eliminate envy around the person asking. As a rule, tobacco products are placed in 2 pieces (the number “2” and other even ones are revered in this religion).

Pure water (certainly in glass) is the main conductor of communication with Holy Death.

The bread is changed 2 times a week. At the same time, the stale ones are not thrown away, but are taken to the park under a tree.

And finally - incense: incense, sandalwood, myrrh, rosemary, musk. They help clear negative energy and bring good luck.

Candles and aromatic oils will not be out of place on the “Bone” altar. In addition to the above, money and even cartridges are placed at her feet (to protect her from violent death).

Rumor has it that Saint Death is as powerful as he is jealous. If you stop showing her signs of respect and attention, she may suddenly get her hands on you.

Santissima's jealousy is also manifested in the fact that she does not tolerate images of other Saints or Spirits near her. The only Saint who can be placed next to her is Saint Jude (not Iscariot) - the protector of the disadvantaged and the patron of dangerous endeavors. The parishioners are afraid to place other Saints near her gaze.

The worshiper of Santissima carries her image with him, as a symbol of the fact that he always remembers her. Usually this is a gold/silver pendant-image of Death or a keychain. For greater effectiveness, the amulet is tempered in the fire of a candle. Avoid touching the medallion with other people's hands. Also, many adherents get a tattoo on their body with the image of a Saint - this protects a person from a bullet, arrest and other troubles.

Some rituals are performed only by children (usually little girls), because Holy Death is especially favorable to their purity and innocence.

It is customary to communicate with Muertita (unlike the Christian religion) on an equal basis - with your shoulders straightened and your head held high. When addressing the Saint, you need to look her straight in the eye. Often the face or statue is fumigated with cigar tobacco for a kind of purification. Treating her with various gifts, they also treat themselves.

For Santa Muerte to fulfill a wish, you must come to her altar on your knees. This action is very clearly shown in one of the episodes of the series “Breaking Bad”.

On every first night of the month, a mass is held followed by a blessing for all who come.

But some adherents have found a cunning way to give up this faith if necessary: ​​you need to wash yourself three times with holy water, and then leave the statue with a scythe in a Catholic church.

The Church condemns the cult, insisting there is no connection between Santa Muerte and Christianity, but because the country has freedom of religion, its adherents are not officially persecuted. However, repressions are periodically carried out against followers of this faith, in particular, the demolition of chapels dedicated to Death is practiced.

At the same time, adherents of the religion insist that their cult has nothing to do with black magic and continue to consider themselves devout Catholics. Moreover, recently political parties sympathetic to this religion have begun to appear, and the parishioners themselves periodically organize protests and refuse to vote in elections for deputies who oppose the recognition of Santa Muerte.

Due to the fact that the cult of Holy Death does not preach (like Christianity) humility, forgiveness, patience and other virtues that make people passive and easily controlled by the clergy, but, on the contrary, gives the adherent confidence and strength to defend their rights, the attitude of the Mexican government towards the cult is ambivalent . On the one hand, they do not approve of it, contemptuously calling it “a superstition of the scum of society,” which a cultured and educated person is ashamed to believe in. On the other hand, the cult exists and develops with the tacit support of the authorities, because the government and government officials themselves often turn to the “Madonna with a Scythe” for help.

A fun fact is that during the World Cup, Santissima is dressed in the colors of the Mexican flag (green, white, red), and a soccer ball is placed in her hands (instead of the traditional globe). All this is done so that the White Girl will bring good luck to the national team. Whether this helps or not, judge for yourself. But the fact remains that the Mexican team is the most inconvenient opponent for the strongest team in the world - the Brazilian team. And over the past ten years, meetings of these countries in official matches have brought Mexico six victories out of a possible seven.

But it’s not just football that brings Santa Muerte to almost every home. Today, the image of Death is popular both in our homeland and far beyond its borders. It has become a part of art, and artists and designers around the world actively use it in their works. A skeleton in an elegant dress appears in the paintings of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, in the engravings and book illustrations of Jose Guadalupe Posada.

Relatively recently, Nike released a series of sneakers called Santa Muerte.

And if we look closely at the photograph of the tattooed world catwalk star Rick Genest (Zombie Boy), it’s not difficult to understand what became the source of inspiration for his “afterlife” image.

Mexico is a unique country where the attitude towards death is radically different from things familiar to us from childhood. An integral part of the life of the majority of the population is the annual celebration of the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) - a holiday dedicated to the memory of the dead, which takes place on November 1 and 2. There is a belief that these days the souls of departed relatives visit their home. A carnival is organized throughout the country, sweets in the shape of skulls are prepared, tequila flows like a river. Cemeteries are decorated with ribbons and flowers, and the roads to homes are lined with candles so that the deceased can find their way home.

The main attribute of the Day of the Dead is the figurine of Calavera Catrina (Spanish: La Calavera Catrina) - this is a female skeleton in a luxurious dress, a kind of fashionista from the afterlife - a kind of prototype of Holy Death. The variety of such figures is amazing - in addition to chic outfits, Katrina can have a dowry in the form of a dressing table, a piano, a car, or even a jacuzzi. She often appears in the most unexpected images: from a bride and a flamenco dancer to a rock star and a geisha.

Día de los Muertos is a colorful event with no room for mourning. The townspeople dress up in costumes of ghouls, ghouls, and Death itself. It is also customary to sprinkle ashes on the head and wash the bones of deceased relatives all night. Songs, dances and gambling certainly accompany the celebration; grieving and crying are strictly prohibited. Another interesting Day of the Dead tradition is the creation of caricatures of living important people, accompanied by poetic obituaries.

Day of the Dead is a day to celebrate life! And it’s not for nothing that Mexican folk wisdom says: “I owe all the best in me to death!”

Each of us has thought about death at least once. What happens after the fateful day? Should you expect life to continue in a completely new form, or should you just accept the fact that you will cease to exist? Since ancient times, people have been interested in the answer to this question. This can be clearly seen in the mythologies of different peoples of the world: in almost every culture there is a God who takes the souls of the dead to the underworld.

However, Santa Muerte is considered a truly special movement. It originated in Mexico about three centuries ago, the name translated sounds like “Holy Death”. The idea of ​​this cult is the worship of a deity who personifies death. He is represented as a female skeleton dressed in a bright dress. Mexicans believe that prayers to Santissima protect them from premature death and also have the ability to grant wishes.

In general, the cult is widespread and has a large army of adherents of its ideology. Along with other mythologies and beliefs, it has found its place in body painting. Even outside of Mexico, Santa Muerte style tattoos are common these days.

This type of tattoo is popular among “asocial” people: thieves, criminals, moths, drug dealers. Conventional faith does not share or even prohibits their type of activity. In this regard, they turn to other forces, and the drawings on the body only emphasize their worldview.

Consider the meaning of the Santa Muerte tattoo:

• Luck. And so, in most cases, cult adherents are socially disadvantaged people. In order to pull off the next thing, they turn to the deity in the hope that luck will be on their side.
• Health. It is believed that the Saint cures diseases and also helps to survive even in the most hopeless situations.
• Love. Mexican girls often mention their men and the guys they like in their prayers. In their opinion, they are able to bring home wandering husbands, and also make a love spell.
• Justice. Often, a skeleton woman is depicted with scales in her hands. Santissima doesn't care whether a person is poor or rich. Is he smart or extremely stupid? She measures everyone the same. And in the matter of restoring justice, sometimes he even punishes the culprit with a bullet.
• Wealth. Supporters of the Saint believe that worshiping her will certainly bring them money and wealth.

Having familiarized ourselves with the meaning, let's move on to the style in which the image can be made. Pay attention to the photo of the Santa Muerte tattoo from the article. The drawings are equally good both in black and white and in color. It is noteworthy that, despite the use of bright colors, a certain gloominess of the picture remains.

The main plot is the girl’s realistic face, on which the elements are clearly visible. This is typical for the nose and eyes: they are painted black. Thus, it seems that the woman is half dead.

The picture is also decorated with additional attributes: scales and a ball. The first ones represent power. The ball is a small model of our Earth. The idea of ​​combining these two elements is as follows: death is omnipotent and will come for everyone.

After developing the sketch, you have to choose a place to apply it. Here everything will depend on its size and shape. Such designs look good on the forearm and hands. You can improvise a sleeve, or make a piece where the image flows from the upper arm to the chest.

Seven-color Death Candle
Thus, in just ten years, Santa Muerte has become one of the most important religious symbols present in various spheres of life of millions of Mexicans and thousands of migrants from Mexico and Central America. Although no one denies Kostlyava’s special appeal to everyone associated with the criminal world, including law enforcement officers, the purpose of this book is to examine the image of Saint Death in all its unique diversity. If we focus only on the black votive candle - a kind of "dark" aspect of the saint, much more popular colors among believers - red, white and gold - will escape our attention: these candles are lit by those whose thoughts are far from the sphere of "crime and punishment"

Resembling a rainbow, the seven-color candle fully conveys the essence of the Powerful Lady. Believers usually light such candles (by the way, these are top sellers) in front of their saint when they ask for supernatural intervention in various areas of life. I once bought one of these candles in Morelia, and now it sits on my desk near the printer. On the candle, framed by a kind of “frame” of fourteen skulls, Saint Death is depicted holding in his hands balance scales, personifying justice and constancy. At the base of the candle, almost under the edge of the Skeleton Saint’s robe, letters appear like falling drops "MUERTE CONTRA MIS ENEMIGOS"(“to the destruction of my enemies”) - this is very similar to the bloody inscriptions from Hollywood “horror films”.

This severity is slightly softened by the image of the Charming One and the prayer addressed to her on the other side of the candle - they resort to this hypostasis of the saint in order to return a prodigal spouse or cohabitant to the family, or simply in search of protection and patronage. The conspiracy to return the husband begins with the words: “I ask you (Santa Muerte) to have (name) at my feet, submit to me and keep his promises.” This prayer ends with a bang. “I ask for your (Santa Muerte) protection, the fulfillment of my desires, and may it be so until my last day, hour and moment.” The Godmother depicted on a multi-colored candle, if you turn to her, will do justice, restore justice, defeat enemies, return an unfaithful man and fulfill many other desires. By admiring all the colors of the votive candle, and not focusing only on black, we will better understand the reasons for the rapid popularity of the cult of the Holy Death over the past decade.

It was the votive candles of different colors, being the most important element of the cult of the White Girl, that suggested to me the structure of this book. Each color symbolizes some spiritual aspect, the sphere of interaction between the saint and her admirers. For example, a black candle immediately evokes associations with the “dark side” of Santa Muerte - and indeed, they are usually illuminated and placed on the altar to take revenge on enemies, to cause damage - or, on the contrary, to protect against “black magic” and the machinations of ill-wishers . Accordingly, each chapter is named after one of the candles, and explores the aspect of the cult that it symbolizes. At the end of the book, these seven different colors will come together into one, like a seven-color rainbow.

Although this is not the most popular candle in the cult of Saint Death, brown the candle will illuminate the first chapter for us. Adherents of the cult resort to it to develop insight and wisdom, or to gain new knowledge - usually such a candle has a somewhat “earthy” color. It seems that the Argentine San La Muerte spends much more time and effort than Santa Muerte, helping his admirers find lost and stolen things. It seems that Mexicans and Central Americans do not often turn to the help of their Skeleton Saint to find lost items. But when they do resort to its help, the right choice for such a ritual would be a coffee-colored candle. The first chapter examines the origins of Santa Muerte (sometimes quite mysterious) and the history of the development of her cult. How did it happen that the Grim Reaper in female form, this horror of the Western world, became the object of adoration of millions of Latin Americans and Mexicans living in their homeland or in the United States of America? Is Charming mestizo (that is, half Spanish and half indigenous), or is she descended directly from the Aztecs? The wisdom and insight that the brown candle symbolizes will give us the answer to these and other questions.

Unlike the brown ones, white candles in esoteric shops and on vendor stalls sell like hotcakes - after all, they are the ones most often used in public rituals, like those performed by Dona Queta and David Romo. Purity, protection, gratitude and dedication are the most important attributes of a colorless candle. Let us remember that the two most common nicknames of the Bone Lady are associated with whiteness as the absence of color (White Girl and White Sister), and this, coupled with the blue-white bones of her skeleton, makes our second chapter white. The flame of this candle will shed light on beliefs and worship. Based heavily on Catholic rites, the cult of Saint Death boasts many colorful rituals. Having analyzed beliefs - as the sum of the ideas underlying religion - we will understand how much the cult of Holy Death can be considered a new religious movement. Should it be considered a creepy variety of "folk" Catholicism - or is it a relatively new and autonomous religious movement, free from Catholic "anchors"? Perhaps most significantly, the worshiper tries to get the Mighty Lady to do something on his behalf during the ritual, and all these prayers, pilgrimages and vows of devotees activate the supernatural abilities of their saint.

While counters and altars are filled with white candles, it is very rare to find street vendors in online stores and stalls. black candles - and they sell very poorly. Because of their notoriety among the general public as an instrument of black magic and harmful witchcraft, many believers - even those who regularly use black candles - are likely to do so in secret, to protect themselves from prying eyes. However, at many private altars that I have personally visited or seen in photographs - including at crime scenes - black candles were most often found. In any case, black votive candles in Mexico and the United States are perhaps the most unique object of the Santa Muerte cult.

If you want to enlist the help of Saint Death to destroy your enemies, avenge real or imagined grievances, or protect a shipment of cocaine sent to Houston or Atlanta, then offer her a black candle. Raised in the Catholic tradition - regardless of whether they are believers or not - most Mexicans feel much more comfortable making such requests to national saints - after all, officially recognized saints, of course, will refuse to bless a shipment of drugs, or commit another “non-Christian” miracle of the same order. So, the “black” third chapter will be devoted to the connection of Santa Muerte with “crime and punishment.” Particular attention will be paid to its role in the drug wars, which have claimed more than 34,000 lives since Felipe Calderon became Mexico's president in late 2006.

Along with black and white candles, cults have long been used red candles are an equally popular item in Mexico City and the United States. As a researcher, I often encountered surprises during the course of collecting materials. Until a summer trip to Mexico in 2009, I had no idea about the importance that red candles have and the purposes they serve. A lengthy examination of sources, including newspapers, articles, online magazines and communities of faith, booklets and a few academic studies, yielded nothing to indicate Santa Muerte's role as a healer of love suffering, especially for women and girls in Mexico and Central Mexico. America. For example, thirty-two-year-old Rosa, a cleaning lady from Pátzcuaro, in the state of Michoacán, placed a red candle on her home altar in the hope that the White Sister would protect her and her four children from persecution by her ex-husband.

Symbolizing love and passion, red candles burn on altars from Chiapas to Chicago, where jilted lovers and jealous girlfriends invoke the saint (often depicted as a bride) to heal heart wounds or win back a wayward partner. Indeed, the first mentions of The “skeletal saint” in the twentieth century is associated precisely with this aspect of her. In his 1947 book Treasury of Mexican Folklore, Francis Toor gives several prayers to Santa Muerte that mention bad husbands. In Oscar Lewis's classic The Children of Sanchez (1961), a Tepito resident named Marta tells an American anthropologist that her sister Antonia was advised to turn to Saint Death to stop the adultery of Crispin (Antonia's husband). “When Antonia first told me about Crispin’s infidelity, she mentioned the advice to pray to Santa Muerte nine nights in a row at exactly midnight, placing a photograph of her husband and a tallow candle in front of her. They promised that before the ninth night the husband would forget about his passion. I bought for my sister a novena (prayer) from a man who sold them in our area, that’s why I remembered it.”

The prayer that Antonia read was mentioned earlier - it is a request to return the man “to the feet” of the one asking. The fourth chapter of the book is named after the red candle - in it we will consider the role of the Mighty Lady as an assistant in matters of love, especially as a healer of broken hearts (which is relevant mainly for women) and punish those who use magic to evoke strong feelings in them (more typical for men).

In addition to the three main colors dedicated to Santa Muerte gold candles successfully compete with white candles in the fight for second place in sales in stores and kiosks, and together with white ones are most often used in official services, including in the Temple of Dona Queta and the Church of David Romo. The color gold is traditionally associated with money, prosperity and abundance. Due to the economic crisis, which promises low wages, or even the threat of dismissal, since the Great Depression, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Mexicans, at home or in America, have placed golden votive candles before the bony feet of the saint, praying for financial well-being . Many parishioners of Dona Queta, holding golden candles in their hands, ask the Mighty Lady to help them find work.

Saint Death, one of whose epithets is “the giver of work,” is rightfully considered the patroness of small business in Mexico and in some areas of the United States. Thirty-four-year-old Yolanda claims that her Godmother helped her open a hair salon in Mexico City, and even built an altar to the saint there to ensure a constant flow of visitors. Yolanda's gratitude to her patron is so great that she pays $160 for a mariachi band to play in honor of Skinny at the monthly rosary ceremony. Interestingly, the energetic entrepreneur, before turning to Saint Death, asked for blessings from the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe and Saint Jude. Yolanda considers her new patron more reliable than these two. The “golden” fifth chapter not only explores the saint’s role as a business helper and giver of benefits, but also talks about her role in the Mexican economy, where sales of her religious paraphernalia, as well as T-shirts, sweatshirts, and even tennis shoes with her image generate multimillion-dollar profits .

In addition to the financial sphere, Santisima Muerte is often addressed as a divine healer. In my previous work on Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement within Catholicism, I discussed how faith healing drives and explains the popularity of these forms of “spiritual Christianity.” One of the greatest paradoxes of the Santa Muerte cult is that this personification of death is associated with saving lives and healing, and is also endowed with miraculous healing powers. Here, Holy Death appears not as the Grim Reaper, whose scythe reaps a bountiful harvest from human souls, but as the Mother of all doctors, mending broken bones and healing mutilated bodies. The sixth chapter will be purple- after all, this is what ritual candles look like, meaning miraculous healing.

One of the curious paradoxes is the great emphasis in the cult on the healing of the saint by its admirers, with a certain shortage of lavender candles in churches and shops. Perhaps the purple color, as a relatively “new” color, has yet to gain popularity among believers, or those suffering from a miracle cure prefer to resort to a traditional seven-color candle, one of the colors of which is purple. Be that as it may, another purple candle lights up when a poor Mexican living in dirt and poverty prays to Holy Death for a cure or even to save his life.

Responding to the demands of his admirers, today Santa Muerte performs many tasks simultaneously. As if the role of doctor, donor, assistant in matters of the heart, and avenger were not enough for her, she appears before her flock as the personification of the Law. In search of a fair solution to a case in court, or in the event of legal problems arising, believers pose green candles in front of the Powerful Lady (often depicted with the scales of justice in her right hand). However, in the “green” seventh chapter the saint will be considered not as a judge, but as a supernatural protector or lawyer. The highest judge, she is awarded this honor by her admirers for her impartiality. As a divine lawyer, Saint Death is interested in the best outcome of the case for her worshiper, and not in a simple decision of the court, in the spirit of “guilty or not.” In a country where justice and equality before the law are often unattainable luxuries, millions of Mexicans believe that only divine intervention can solve their legal problems. And even if the supernatural patron does not help them win the case, believers are consoled by the thought that sooner or later their offenders will fall under the scythe of the Grim Reaper.

So, this seven-color thick candle perfectly expresses all the many faces of the Skeleton Saint. It is no wonder that these candles (although they are the newest of all those used in rituals), along with red, white and gold, are one of the best-selling ones. Appeared perhaps under the influence of a candle "seven forces"(siete potencias), used in the rituals of Santeria (a religion popular in Cuba, originating in African cults) - and brought to Mexico from outside by Cuban immigrants, this rainbow candle conveys all the incredible power of the Skeleton Saint. While the country is experiencing one of the worst economic crises in the last decade, while violence reigns and a deadly fight against the drug mafia is being waged, many Mexicans are turning to the Godmother to help them in various areas of life. So, let's look at the image of Holy Death in all its richness of colors, without limiting ourselves to just black.