Discuss the similarities and differences between Our Lady of Guadalupe and Santa Muerte with respect to how these individuals are perceived, venerated, and petitioned.  Why do you think both of these figures are so popular?

            Our Lady of Guadalupe, for a very basic definition, is the Mexican counterpart of the Virgin Mary. She is a “folk” saint, which means that although venerated and popular with her followers, she is not an official (canonized) saint of the Roman Catholic church. Religious icons are often absorbed by different cultures than the ones that created them, as was the case when Spaniards came to the Americas with Catholicism. As Spain conquered the natives of Central and South America, they enforced their religious beliefs as well. But as is so often the case, religions mutate and evolve when placed into a novel setting, with new subjects taking up the tradition. The Virgin of Guadalupe gave Mexicans their very own miracle story and accompanying sacred relic, by her appearing to Juan Diego in the early 16^th century on a hillside near present-day Mexico City. Her image was allegedly transferred to Diego's outer garment by divine means, and this image still resides in a shrine (basilica) there. It is the most visited site devoted to a Catholic “virgin mother” icon in the entire world.

             With such a holy maternal image having been an integral part of Mexican culture for over 500 years, the much more recent appearance of Santa Muerte, “Saint Death” seems an unlikely occurrence at first. Also a female icon clothed in Catholic garments, the resemblance ends there. Santa Muerta is represented by a skeleton with scythe, very similar to the Grim Reaper. She is the symbol of Death, and first came into the international news due to her patronage by Mexican drug smugglers. This “Bony Lady” and the Virgin of Guadelupe could hardly seem more different, especially to an outside observer. The death represented by the former stands in direct opposition to the life-giving nature of the latter.

             A closer look at pre-Columbian beliefs in Central and South America, however, reveals that Death has always been an object of reverence in this region (Mesoamerica), dating as far back as the Aztecs, and later in Mexico's “Day of the Dead” annual celebration. Perhaps as early as the late 1700s, some people were already involved in the use of a skeletal figure that they entreated to grant their wishes. From archives of the Spanish Inquisition comes a 1790 account of “thirty Indians who gather in their chapel to drink peyote... they light... candles, some of which are black... they whip Holy Crosses and also a figure of death that they call Santa Muerte... threatening to whip and burn it if it does not perform a miracle” (Chesnut 31).

             What connection can be made between the Virgin of Guadelupe and Santa Muerte? Both are folk saints, and feminine, and creations of the Mesoamerican culture. While one represents Life and the other Death, there's a respect in Mexico for this duality that is uncommon in most other cultures' versions of Christianity. Santa Muerte is the older icon, in a way, when you take the Aztecs into account- their Mictlantecuhtli was the goddess of death. Is the Bony Lady just a later incarnation? Yes,I think so. Hybridized to a great degree, and appealing to a modern society (with all its technological tools) Santa Muerte represents a fascinating sort of “revenge of a forgotten god”, finding its way back.

             That's just one aspect, of course. Most modern devotees of Santa Muerte know nothing of her history. The majority of worshippers that hold the Virgin of Guadelupe sacred would still condemn the Saint Death phenomenon. But the argument can be made that these two very different females both originate from a society's need for deities unique to their history and culture. The evolution of Santa Muerte, and other hybrids like her, will continue. One can imagine many strange marriages of beliefs that might occur in the future. (A God of the Internet? A cyborg Jesus?) I predict there will be some very interesting topics for comparative religion students for a long time to come.

Chesnut, R A. Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint. New York: Oxford

            University, 2012. Print.