A female folk saint from Mexico, she is depicted mostly as the grim reaper. Santa Muerte has been a public practice since the early 2000s and has enjoyed explosive growth in popularity (author Andrew Chestnut consider her devotion to be the fastest growing religion in the world).
Her idols are sold in many locations in Mexico and small shrines are set up in many cities as well as spreading to the southern USA. Specifically the woman Enriqueta Romero is important in the history of Santa Muerte, as she set up the first public shrine in her honour.
- https://mexiconewsdaily.com/culture/who-is-santa-muerte/
- many different videos of Romero and the shrine in Mexico City can be found on youtube
Devotees to Santa Muerte are mostly at the bottom of society or working dangerous jobs: prostitutes, criminals, taxi drivers, police and similar. A practice of hers is to ask her for favors in return to regular devotions. Another is the burning of candles in her honour with different coloured candles for different desired outcomes like luck, love or income.
Santa Muerte has been meet with fierce opposition from christian churches, not least the Catholic Church, who associate her with the devil, and the Mexican government in general, who associate her with criminality.
The origins of Santa Muerte has been a source of discussion. Some believe her origins to be fully christian or related to European skeletal depictions, while other claim she is descended from the general belief in skeletal death gods that existed in many Mesoamerican cultures.
She is not to be confused with the Argentinian San La Muerte.
I recommend taking a look at the reference section of the Wikipedia page. It contains many good links to various resources, articles, papers, videos and books. Youtube also has many good videos, especially of one of her shrines in Mexico City.
Specific sources:
- Lecture by Andrew Chestnut, a broad overview: https://ww1.up.edu/garaventa/archives/lectures-and-readings/2017-2018-lectures-and-readings/andrew-chesnut-lecture.html
- Article in her origins. It argues that she is descended from Mexican pagan beliefs, mostly based in the existence of skeletal gods and other examples of pagan/christian syncretism in the Americas: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/3/220
- https://www.patheos.com/blogs/theglobalcatholicreview/2019/10/mexican-folk-saint-santa-muerte-the-fastest-growing-new-religious-movement-in-the-west/
- Religion for Breakfast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOq8tX4gnEw
