The death cult that is spreading beyond Mexico

Mexico City / AP

The life’s work of Dona Queta is inconspicuous from the street, only the presence of a few flowers on the path in front of the white bars indicate there’s anything special behind them.
But every day hundreds of people make the pilgrimage to the shrine, created by the 62-year-old to honour Santa Muerte in Mexico City’s Tepito barrio. The worshippers kneel in front of the altar to give thanks or pray to Our Lady of the Holy Death, Mexican folklore’s goddess of death.
This afternoon four members of a Colombian family have arrived to visit the shrine, where they shed tears and mourn for their son, who died that morning. They took the first flight to Mexico and are to return to Bogota in the evening.
More and more pilgrims are coming from Central America and even Colombia, says Dona Queta. “They come because of their beliefs, nothing else.” Anthropologist and cult expert Antonio Higher Bonfil has been researching the Santa Muerte movement for years and has closely observed the explosion in the number of its devotees, who are no longer just in Mexico. “People believe that Santa Muerte will protect them from illness and unhappiness,” he says.
“At the same time, she’s a very tolerant saint. She doesn’t demand anything of her believers. Everyone can come as they are, whether they’re bachelors or divorced,” he continues.
This puts her in direct competition with the Catholic Church, which condemns its followers when they commit what it regards as sins.
When Pope Francis visited Mexico in February last year he was very critical of the cult’s devotees.
“I am particularly concerned about those many persons who, seduced by the empty power of the world, praise illusions and embrace their macabre symbols to commercialize death in exchange for money,” he said.
At the centre of her shrine, Dona Queta has placed a very realistic looking, child-sized skeleton, its skull covered by long, black hair.
The figure is lovingly clothed in a long, golden dress with a veil. Smaller angels and figures of death are arranged around Santa Muerte, who is also known as Nina Blanca (White Child). Offerings such as fruit, bottles of beer and glasses filled with wine lie at her feet. Many of the cult’s symbols are similar to those of the Catholic Church.
In Dona Queta’s shop, just next to the shrine, pilgrims can buy wreaths of roses and candles. Visitors sink to their knees in prayer.
“Before Spain colonized [Latin America], there was a well-established death cult in Mexico, which disappeared on the surface when Catholicism arrived,” says sociologist Alberto Hernandez.
He believes the cult mixes Catholic beliefs with pre-Hispanic elements. “The movement is definitely not new. It’s just been underground for hundreds of years.”
Because they were stigmatized by the Church, many of Santa Muerte’s followers, such as Maria de Rosario Gomez, kept their beliefs private.
The 43-year-old chef, who lives in Tepito, has been a devotee of Santa Muerte for 20 years, but she doesn’t make her beliefs public.
“The shrine I have in my flat is enough for me,” she says. “When I leave my home I ask Santa Muerte to protect me.” Most of her acquaintances have a very private relationship with the Lady of the Holy Death, says de Rosario. Santa Muerte’s relatively recent return to the public sphere is probably thanks to Dona Queta. A feisty and determined woman, she opened her shrine to Santa Muerte and the shop for pilgrims next to it 15 years ago, in Tepito, regarded as a criminal stronghold. It’s thought to be the first public shrine to the death saint in Mexico and is consequently very popular.
“Violence appears to have increased in Mexico at the same pace as the movement,” he says. But he rejects a common characterization of Santa Muerte as the patron saint of criminals. “The Catholic Church and the media gave Santa Muerte that reputation. I can’t confirm that there are more criminals among her devotees. But Santa Muerte does accept them too,” he says. There are other rumours that surround the death cult.
Santa Muerte supposedly punishes unbelievers and enslaves her followers, because she needs ever-greater sacrifices to secure her goodwill. Critics say the success of her cult is down to fear, but Higuera says that’s not true.
“Santa Muerte doesn’t seek you out. You seek her out. She can make your fears come true too. [But] if you want to punish someone, she can fulfill your wish.”
Her followers don’t care about the rumours. Dona Queta has known the death saint since her childhood and doesn’t see any reason for conflict between her and the Catholic Church.
“I believe in everything. I dance to the music you play. I believe in the Virgin of Guadalupe, in Santa Muerte, and above all in God.”
De Rosario’s priorities are the other way round. “Nobody can prove to me that God exists,” she says. “But death, that’s real.”