Vocativ Looks Inside Santa Muerte, Mexico's Fast-Growing Death Cult Jan-Albert Hootsen - Vocativ
go to original December 24, 2013

Nuestra Santisima Muerte (Opificio Ciclope)

MEXICO CITY — The woman and her daughter approach the glass in silence. They light a cigarette and place it next to a candle. The girl rings a bell. They kneel softly, close their eyes and whisper. The space around them becomes quiet, almost eerie. “Holiest death,” the mother mumbles, “give my family strength and prosperity.” A tear rolls down her cheek. Behind the glass, a skeletal statue in a white wedding dress stares back, grinning.

Welcome to the shrine of Santa Muerte (Holy Death). Every day hundreds of people flock to the gritty Tepito neighborhood in Mexico City’s colonial center to ask Santa Muerte—also known as La Niña Blanca (The White Girl)—for health, wealth, prosperity and happiness.

Though traditional Roman Catholicism is still by far the dominant religion in Mexico, the Santa Muerte is the fastest growing belief system in the country. It boasts between 5 million and 10 million followers, and even more if you count Mexican immigrants in the United States. The Santa Muerte has become so popular that Holy Death paraphernalia now outsell those of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s traditional Catholic patron saint.

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