1, 2009 in Mexico City.īefore the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, the Aztecs who inhabited the area that is now central Mexico worshiped Mictecacihuatl, the “Lady of the Dead.” This pre-Columbian death goddess ruled over the underworld and was often depicted as a partial skeleton or having a skull for a head, similar to Santa Muerte. Jam Media/LatinContent/Getty Images Men stand next to a makeshift altar honoring the Santa Muerte as part of Day of the Dead celebrations at the Tepito district on Nov.

But these native cultures already had death deities. As the Spaniards sought to turn the Aztecs and Mayans over to Catholicism, they introduced them to female Grim Reaper figures as a representation of death. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, relays that references to Santa Muerte begin as early as colonial Spain. The History Of Santa MuerteĪlthough she has only become a popular figure in the last 10 to 15 years, Santa Muerte (literally translated as “Saint Death”) has been around for centuries.Īndrew Chesnut, the Bishop Walter F. But this hasn’t stopped her worshippers from every corner of the earth to bowing at her altar. The highest annals of the Catholic Church, the Vatican itself, has condemned Santa Muerte as satanic.

Her followers, from drug lords and prisoners to hard-working families, often call her Santisima Muerte - “most holy death.”

Santa Muerte, the folklorish female deity of Mexican-American culture, has gone from relative anonymity to being at the center of the fastest growing religious movement in the world. Wikimedia Commons Catholics who pray to Santa Muerte find it easy to reconcile their two belief systems.

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