The Use of Similarity-based Algorithms to Predict Links in Mexican Criminal Networks by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy Woodman, Stephen (31 March 2017). "How a skeleton folk saint of death took off with Mexican transgender women". USA Today. ISSN 0734-7456. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019 . Retrieved 17 November 2021. Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte ( Spanish: [ˈnwestɾa seˈɲoɾa ðe la ˈsanta ˈmweɾte]; Spanish for Our Lady of Holy Death), often shortened to Santa Muerte, is a cult image, female deity, and folk saint in folk Catholicism and Mexican Neopaganism. [1] [2] :296–297 A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees. [3] Despite condemnation by leaders of the Catholic Church, [4] and more recently evangelical movements, [5] her cult [a] has become increasingly prominent since the turn of the 21st century. [6] China's Charm Offensive in Latin America and the Caribbean: A comprehensive Analysis of China's strategic Communication Strategy Across the Region [Part III: Image, Academia, and Technology] by FIU Digital Commons, Research Publications 57 Kristen Norget , Days of Death, Days of Life: Ritual in the Popular Culture of Oaxaca. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006 .

Jonathan Legaria Vargas, Santisima Muerte Revelaciones . Chimalhuacan, Mexico: Ediciones Aigam, 2007 .

About the Author(s)

Kingsbury, Kate; Chesnut, R. Andrew (March 2021). Oleszkiewicz-Peralba, Małgorzata (ed.). "Syncretic Santa Muerte: Holy Death and Religious Bricolage". Religions. Basel: MDPI. 12 (3: Syncretism and Liminality in Latin American and Latinx Religions): 220. doi: 10.3390/rel12030220. eISSN 2077-1444. Although there are other death saints in Latin America, such as San La Muerte, Santa Muerte is the only female saint of death in either of the Americas. [13] Though early figures of the saint were male, [7] iconographically, Santa Muerte is a skeleton dressed in female clothes or a shroud, and carrying both a scythe and a globe. [34] [23] Santa Muerte is marked out as female not by her figure but by her attire and hair. The latter was introduced by a believer named Enriqueta Romero. [18] Perdigón Castañeda, Judith K. (December 2015). "La indumentaria para La Santa Muerte". Cuicuilco: Revista de la Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (in Spanish). Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia ( CONACULTA). 22 (64): 43–62. ISSN 1405-7778. S2CID 192520236.

Officials: 3 killed as human sacrifices in Mexico". CNN.com. CNN. 2012-03-30. Archived from the original on 2012-04-02 . Retrieved 2012-04-03. a b c d e f Velazquez, Oriana (2007). El libro de la Santa Muerte[ The book of Santa Muerte] (in Spanish). Mexico City: Editores Mexicanos Unidos, S.A. pp.7–9. ISBN 978-968-15-2040-3. Garcia Meza, Daniel (2008-11-01). "La "Niña blanca" mejor conocida como La Santa Muerte"[The White Girl, better known as Santa Muerte]. El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish). Torreon, Mexico . Retrieved 2009-10-07. Harden Cooper, Ricardo (2008-02-14). "Vende bien aquí la Santa Muerte"[Santa Muerte sells well here]. El Porvenir (in Spanish). Mexico City . Retrieved 2009-10-07. Chesnut, R. Andrew (2018) [2012]. Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint (Seconded.). New York: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199764662.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-063332-5. LCCN 2011009177.

According to popular belief, Santa Muerte is very powerful and is reputed to grant many favors. Her images are treated as holy and can give favors in return for the faith of the believer, with miracles playing a vital role. As Señora de la Noche ("Lady of the Night"), she is often invoked by those exposed to the dangers of working at night, such as taxi drivers, bar owners, police, soldiers, and sex workers. As such, devotees believe she can protect against assaults, accidents, gun violence, and all types of violent death. [41] Red Santa Muerte. Santa Muerte is also revered and seen as a saint and protector of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities in Mexico, [15] [63] [64] [65] [66] since LGBTQ+ people are considered and treated as outcasts by the Catholic Church, evangelical churches, and Mexican society at large. [15] [63] Many LGBTQ+ people ask her for protection from violence, hatred, disease, and to help them in their search for love. Her intercession is commonly invoked in same-sex marriage ceremonies performed in Mexico. [67] [68] The Iglesia Católica Tradicional México-Estados Unidos, also known as the Church of Santa Muerte, recognizes gay marriage and performs religious wedding ceremonies for homosexual couples. [69] [70] [71] [72] Association with criminality [ edit ] A man blowing smoke onto a miniature image of Santa Muerte. Maguey, also known as the Century Plant, also connects Mexican Santa Muertistas to their pre-Columbian heritage. The plant was employed by the Aztecs for a range of ailments, including gout and topical wounds. In addition, the Aztecs and other Indigenous peoples in central Mexico fermented the juice of the plant into an alcoholic drink called pulque, which contains a substantial amount of vitamin B and to this day is an important source of nutrition for a significant number of campesinos in rural central Mexico 3.

The image is dressed differently depending on what is being requested. Usually, the vestments of the image are differently colored robes, but it is also common for the image to be dressed as a bride (for those seeking a husband) [23] or in European medieval nun's garments similar to female Catholic saints. [10] The colors of Santa Muerte's votive candles and vestments are associated with the type of petitions made. [42]

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Lara, Bravo; Estela, Blanca (December 2013). "Bajo tu manto nos acogemos: Devotos a la Santa Muerte en la zona metropolitana de Guadalajara". Nueva Antropología. 26 (79): 11–28. Kate Kingsbury and Andrew Chesnut, “Not Just a Narcosaint: Santa Muerte as Matron Saint of the Mexican Drug War.” International Journal of Latin American Religions. Vol. 4, no. 1. 2020, pp. 25-47, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs41603-020-00095-2 ; and Op. cit. Kingsbury at Note 4. Flores Martos, Juan Antonio (2007). "La Santísima Muerte en Veracruz, México: Vidas Descarnadas y Práticas Encarnadas". In Flores Martos, Juan Antonio; González, Luisa Abad (eds.). Etnografías de la muerte y las culturas en América Latina (in Spanish). Cuenca: Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla–La Mancha. pp.273–304. ISBN 978-84-8427-578-7.