Is La Santisima Muerte an Aztec Goddess?

Is La Santisima Muerte an Aztec Goddess?

By Steven Bragg

Many people claim that la Santisima Muerte is Aztec in origin, and they point to the Aztec goddess of death and the underworld, Mictecacihuatl. Although it can't be denied that Mictecacihuatl and la Santisima Muerte share a few similarities, being represented as a skeleton or with a skull for a head and being a deity associated with death and the realm of the dead, these seem to be more superficial than at first glance. Recent evidence has come forward to question the common belief that la Santisima Muerte is the re-emergence of an Aztec goddess with a thin veneer of Catholic trappings.

In Andrew Chesnut's book, Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte the Skeleton Saint, in the chapter exploring Santa Muerte’s history, he introduces us to La Parca, the Grim Reapress of Spain who, along with her male counterpart, the traditional European, bubonic plague-inspired Grim Reaper, carries the souls of the dead on to their next destination. The Black Death swept through Europe in the 14^th century, leaving in its wake new manifestations of Death within the European mindsets, which may have still been fresh when Spain began its conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1519. Add to this that la Santa Muerte has been discovered in the Philippines, another area colonized by Spain, where effigies date back to at least to the 1850s, according to Chesnut’s June 8, 2014, entry to the blog skeletonsaint.com. He further says, "This discovery, coupled with the existence of skeleton saints Rey Pascual in Guatemala and Chiapas and San La Muerte in Argentina and Paraguay, reinforces the indisputably strong Spanish influence in the origins of Santa Muerte in Mexico." So, it would seem that in many of the places Spain went and colonized, Catholic death saints and figures manifested within the indigenous and folk populations.

Briefly looking below the surface at the Aztec claims, we can see that the Aztec Empire lasted less than two centuries before Spain arrived, and it only ruled a relatively small, southern portion of what is now Mexico. The better part of Mexico has been predominantly Catholic for over four centuries. In addition, Mictecacihuatl was only one goddess of several deities of death and the underworld. It’s highly unlikely that one, singular goddess, who wasn’t even honored for that long or by that many people, managed to survive underground and dodge the Inquisition in such a small area, and then later re-emerge throughout all of Mexico and parts of Central America. It is, however, more likely that the spiritual remnants of the Native underworld deities managed to latch onto the much larger personification of death brought over by the Spanish and survive, at least in the minds of the mestizo population.

Speaking of the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico, Chesnut shows us that in the Inquisitional records of the 1700s there is mention of localized devotion to “la Santa Muerte,” specifically. Not Mictecacihuatl or any other pre-colonial name, but the Spanish name Santa Muerte. Although that’s not definitive evidence, it does show that the religious and linguistic rule of the Spanish colonists had already heavily affected folk practices as early as the 1700s.

In his book, The Santisima Muerte: A Mexican Folk Saint, Bryant Holman recounts an interview with an informant who relays the story from Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, of the Santa Muerte of that region that rode “a cart creaking and straining as it was pulled down a cobblestone street.” He points out the similarity to Don Sebastian of New Mexico who is a “skeleton driving an oxcart, which hauls the bodies of the dead away.” Death driving a cart is an old tradition throughout European lore, and the squeaky axle reminds me specifically of L’Ankou of Brittany, who also drive a squeaky-axled cart to collect the souls of the dead.

Although I certainly do not discount the possible effects the native, pre-colonial deities had on the development of la Santisima Muerte, as we see her today, it’s becoming more and more clear to me, at least, that la Madrina has more European roots than was previously believed. As a European descendant, this makes a great deal of sense as to why la Muerte would have come to me so strongly, not that one has to be of European descent, of course, but everyone who can trace their blood back to Western Europe also traces their spiritual ancestry back to the Catholic Church and the veneration of the Saints, who in my opinion are elevated ancestors. The Church has always had a concept of the Angel of Death, through the Bible, and Europe is filled with older images and personifications of Death. It makes perfect sense that these images and forces came together with the native peoples in the New World (and the Philippines, it seems) to give rise to la Santisima Muerte.

I realize that what I’ve mention here is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and I look forward to Professor Chesnut’s next book on la Santa Muerte, where he says he will go even deeper into her history and possible origins.

Origin of the New Orleans Chapel of the Santisima Muerte

The New Orleans Chapel of the Santisima Muerte owes its existence to the teachings of Nick Arnoldi, aka Hechicero Nick. A New Jersey native, Nick spent a year in Mexico in 2001 and met an hechicero (native sorcerer) who was known as Don Gilberto within his community. When someone was born with a special gift to work within the spiritual realm for the benefit of the community he was said to have the "don." Don Gilberto passed Nick the system of working with La Muerte which consisted of the three robes of white, red, and black. Nick returned to NJ and maintained his personal connection to la Flaka, working for clients over the years. Nick and I met in MA in 2008, but it wasn't until after I returned to New Orleans that the subject of the Santa Muerte came up. Before returning she had approached me in a dream and offered a solution to a problem I was having. At that point, not having any experience with her, I was hesitant, but I accepted. She fulfilled her end of the bargain, and I repaid her as best I could. She remained content with this until about a year later when she made it known she wanted me to work with her more. I set the condition that she needed to bring me a teacher before I'd go further with her, and right after is when Nick brought his devotion and workings with her. A couple of days later Nick contacted me saying La Muerte came to him in a dream and instructed him to teach me and pass along Don Gilberto's system. 

La Muerte wasted no time in responding to my prayers through this system, and she quickly became the dominant spiritual force in my life and practices. Once I got to a comfortable point with her I asked for a major, personal favor. Within a couple of weeks she delivered what I asked for, and I knew then that this relationship was the one I'd been preparing for most of my life. So, in payment I built an outdoor shrine as my way of spreading her devotion. Around the same time, the indoor space I had set up for her grew exponentially, and she eventually took over an entire room in my home. This became the indoor, private chapel. Before I could even put on the finishing touches, Santisima began to bring other people to attend the chaplet services I hold for her, and in two and a half years there is now a very close-knit family of devotees and beginning workers who live in New Orleans and other places. We've been honored to have as guests other traditional workers of La Muerte, as well as Prof. Andrew Chesnut, the leading academic of Santa Muerte in the English-speaking world.

Tragically, Nick's life ended soon after my training in his system was completed. It seemed Santisima Muerte wanted him to pass along his teachings before she came for him. He has an altar in the chapel, and I make certain to keep his memory alive and spirit honored. Without him, none of this would have been possible. I've been blessed to have some of his friends in New Jersey contact me and send me many of his statues and devotional items to continue their service in the New Orleans Chapel. His best friend, Lorraine, who knew Nick since high school and remembers when he was in Mexico has visited, and we've exchanged stories of Nick's personal and spiritual life.

What to Call Devotees and Workers of La Santa Muerte

Although there are no universally recognized "titles" for those who devote themselves to la santisima muerte, there are a couple of them that I've seen used. It should be noted, however, that these personal descriptors are not in any way a sign of an established priesthood or organization and can be used by anyone who has developed a strong connection to la muerte. 

Quick Spanish lesson for all of us Anglophones. "La Muerte" is the Spanish word for Death. Although is doesn't have the traditional "a" ending, it is a feminine word, denoted by "la". This may be a contributing factor as to why "Saint Death" has manifested in Mexico/Central America as female. One of many. Maybe, maybe not.

"Santa Muertero" for men, "Muertera" for women. Muertero/a is a Spanish word for someone who works very heavily with the dead, the muertos. (When you add "-ero/a" to the end of a word in Spanish, it's kinda like adding "-er/-ess" to the end of an English word, making it "someone who does this.") Now, add "Santa" to Muertero, and you have "someone who is devoted to/works with Holy Death. "Sta" is the abbreviation for "Santa," which I personally like because everyone in the English speaking world thinks of Santa Claus when you write out Santa. Lol.

Another descriptor you'll see is "Santa Muertista" which usually only has the "a" ending. Personally, this seems like a borrowing from the term Espiritista as a general Spanish word for a person who works with spirits. Espiritista is used throughout the Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands (but is also found in Mexico, possibly due to the Cuban diaspora, which is also why you see Lukumi and Palo there) as one who is accomplished within the realm of Espiritismo, their version of Allan Kardec spiritism (which is a whole other ball of wax!)

So, Santa Muertero/a or Santa Muertista. Take your pick. And I'm sure there are probably others out there I've yet to encounter. La Santisima Muerte is very quickly growing, changing, expanding, and one never knows exactly what to expect from her.

The New Orleans Chapel has a new website! Currently most of the information here has been transferred over to get the site up and  going. Whether I continue to post here or not remains to be seen, but be sure to visit for the latest updates.

http://www.santisimamuerteneworleans.org/

“Punishing” La Muerte?

Steven Bragg

I’ve had more than a few people ask me about this lately, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on a particular matter. Some people say, and this was even included in my original teachings from my teacher, Nick, that if you ask Santisima to do something for you and either she doesn’t do it or she’s being really slow in acting, you can take away her things (scythe, hands, offerings, etc.) and hide them until she comes through with what you ask. Then you give her things back to her and keep on going as normal. I’ve heard of several variations on this, including making her face the wall, turning her upside-down, putting her in a dark closet, and so on.

Now, I understand that this is an old practice, and similar actions can be found all throughout the world, including folk Catholicism and the African Diasporic Religions. I’ve seen people do it, and I’ve even done it myself. Twice. Once with a Lwa of Haitian Vodou, and once with Santisima Muerte. Both times ended disastrously for me. It took two times of being punished by the spiritual beings I thought I was punishing to realize what a stupid practice it is, especially when you try to do it with very old and very powerful beings.

Practice however you wish, but my experience has been that although you might get what you ask for (or not!), you might also get something you didn’t ask for and don’t want. Choose with care.

Response to a blog about Santa Muerte

I haven't done much with this blog lately, so I thought I'd start back up with a response to a blog post someone posted on a Facebook account. The blog entry is an interesting one, and I thought I'd share my views and opinions. Here's the link:

http://mysecrethoodoo.blogspot.com/2012/05/truth-about-santa-muerte.html

I'd like to go point by point on this. Since it's been conveniently numbered, instead of quoting I'll just refer to the number in the original blog post. However, first I'd like to make it clear that this is not a critique of the blog author in any way. He states in the entry that he is not an expert on Santisima Muerte, but he is trying to make clear that Santisima is not a traditional part of Hoodoo. I agree with this wholeheartedly, and I encourage more clarification on this matter, and on the matter of who she is in general, as I'm starting to see a trend where she's becoming more popular among U.S. and other English-speaking countries where people are "picking up" her service without any regards to her cultural origin and with no respect to her traditional practices, which have been in place for quite a while now. Sadly, this is yet another case of appropriation for the next "spiritual fad." We've seen this with many traditional spiritual practices within the last few decades, and with those who never quite get it, those who skim the surface of a spiritual tradition, get all excited about a few chills, but get bored because they've hit a roadblock, and then move on to the next thing that catches their eyes. Rest assured, however, those of us who respect the traditions that are in place, respect the ancestors of those traditions, and respect the spiritual beings around whom these traditions have been built are here and will be once the fad wanes, as it always does. We don't always say anything, as time has shown that the popular spotlight is always moving on, but we're here, we watch, we safeguard, and we wait. 

With all that said, here are my opinions about the article in question:

1) and 2). Correct. 

3). Correct in a way. There are two levels of dealing with Santisima Muerte, from what I've been taught and what I've seen. The terms "inner circle" and "outer circle" are probably being used for lack of better terms. First, Sta M will accept devotion from anyone. Anyone can approach her, like they would any Catholic folk saint, and she will listen and determine if she wants to help that person. Second are her spiritual workers, those who do indeed hold her tradition of working with her for a multitude of reasons for both him/herself and for the people who come to this person. Generally speaking, there are three main types of spiritual workers in Mexico: Curanderos(as), Hechiceros(as), and Brujos(as). Curanderismo is the spiritual practice of healing, traditionally done before modern medicine became more widely available, but still practiced in conjunction with modern medicine with an emphasis on spiritual healing. Hechiceria would be more like sorcery, with a Native bend to it, and can be done for either good or harm. Brujeria is generally negative work, although it can be done for good. The people within these spiritual practices are generally the ones who have inherited the knowledge and gifts they have from their family or from other teachers, and these are the ones who Santisima Muerte has traditionally worked through. So, yes, there is an "inner circle" so to speak, but it's not a cohesive group in any way, and the lines dividing these groups are very fluid. AND there are regional differences, depending on how the underground practices developed. Despite this, though, there are striking similarities among the workings for Santisima Muerte throughout all these workers' practices.

The second 3). Correct. I've heard the term "The Bride" used for La Blanca (the white) but not "The Wife/Mother" or "The Widow." Sounds like someone's interpretation of the three colors. It's neither here nor there.

4). This statement needs some major clarification. First of all, there's no traditional "initiation" with Sta M. She chooses her workers, those who have already gone through some type of training/apprenticeship with their family or teacher, usually in one of the three systems mentioned above. There's no need for an initiation, because the person she's chosen has already been through what is necessary to have her close to the person. The training is from student to teacher. At least, this is the way it was until recently, that is within the last decade. I see where today some people are offering initiations of one type or another. Whether Sta M is behind this and/or accepting it remains to be seen, only time will tell. It is true that when great changes occur, the traditional ways of doing things may (or may not) have to be altered to accommodate those changes. However, this shouldn't be seen as an excuse to just do whatever one wishes to do. Any change in a traditional system must be done in a manner of back and forth communication between the spiritual being(s) and the elders/workers. Secondly, in response to #4 of the blog, there's no need for any type of family member sacrifice. As many responded to the original FB posting, Sta M gets everyone in the end anyway. That's not a real sacrifice. 

5). Absolutely correct! Not all, but a good number of eclectic Wiccans, Neo-Pagans, and New Agers are among those most guilty of cultural appropriation, superficially swiping elements, techniques, spirits, and deities and plunking them down into their own systems using pre-conceived notions about how there is a universal spiritual system that they go by. They usually have only read books, gotten almost no real instruction from experienced people, and built themselves a comfortable system, with a revisionist history, that only brushes the surface of what most traditional systems delve into. Without really going into this area too much, as that would require a blog, or series of blogs, I'm just going to say that the most important aspect, as pertains to this subject, is respect. Respect the tradition; respect the elders/teachers; respect the ancestors; respect the spiritual beings. In my experience doing this will get your further along in one year than a decade of do-it-yourself eclecticism. 

6). Correct, mostly. According to the documented evidence that's been uncovered so far, ever since she manifested in Mexico, Santisima Muerte has been treated like a Catholic folk saint. Catholic culture and society, Catholic prayers, Catholic rites. Granted that some of what has been found borders on pagan-like rituals, but then a lot of Catholic folk practices do, as well. These are remnants of two merging cultures, however, the dominant religion is Catholicism. I'm well aware that an overwhelming majority of Mexicans who serve Sta M will say, if asked, that Sta M is either the reincarnation or in some way linked to the pre-Christian Aztec goddess. However, as noted in the blog, the evidence is lacking. Sure the superficial elements are there. Female divine being ruling over death and the underworld. Ok, great. But what else? The offerings and rites associated with Santisima Muerte are commonly found among other Mexican Catholic folk saints. There's a few elements in her service, which I won't list here, that may be remnants of pre-Christian practices, but not that many. In addition, there are two European figures who share striking resemblance to Sta M's current form. La Parca, from Spain, is a female grim reaper who is a skeleton, with cloak and scythe, and there is an Italian "Santa Muerte" who is (possibly!?) a version of the Virgin Mary. Who were the two European powers that conquered (what is now) Mexico? Was it Spain, with the backing of Rome, which is in Italy? So, yeah, linking Santisima Muerte with an Aztec goddess of similar nature may be good for Mexican nationalism, but does that mean Santisima Muerte is automatically the reincarnation of that goddess? I won't say no, and I won't say yes. It think it's much more complex than that, however the bottom line for me is that Santisima Muerte is NOT a goddess. She's made that perfectly clear to me herself, and I have no reason to try to make her into one.

7). This one I don't agree with. The oldest documented workings we have of Sta M work is love work, specifically work to bring back wandering lovers, usually men. The tri-colored system in her traditional practice is designed to incorporate any type of working that is necessary, worldly or other-worldly. Yes, Santisima Muerte is petitioned for a good death, but she can also do so much more.

8). Eh. True in a way. Santisima Muerte goes by her own ethical system. She helps those she helps for whatever reason and doesn't discriminate. Without getting into a long discussion about ethics, I'll just leave it at that...for now.

9). Correct.

10). I personally don't know much about San La Muerte, but I was told by my teacher not to mix him with Santisima Muerte.

11). As mentioned above, there is an Italian Santa Muerte, who may by a version of Mary, but yes, Santisima Muerte is considered not only the Angel of Death, but also the highest of God's Archangels.

So, as you can see this is not a bad article, written by someone who admits to not being an expert. Of course, the word "expert" is a loaded term, but I think what is meant here is someone who has received traditional teachings for Sta M. Like I said earlier, I support these types of writings in order to let other people who, through no fault of their own...most of the time, know that there is already a traditional system for Sta M in place. There are devotees, and there are workers. AND there are regional differences amongst all of these. Devotees are going to serve from their hearts and may pick up information from family and friends. Some of it will be traditional, some will not. If Sta M wants a devotee to learn more traditional practices she will lead that person to a teacher, as she did in my case. Of course, I am open minded enough to realize that with the recent explosion of popularity, there may be changes on the horizon, but for me personally these will have to come directly from Santisima Muerte in a way that I have no doubt she wants me to do them. In the meantime, I'm going to continue to serve and work with her in the way that she has brought to me.

Steven

The New Orleans Chapel of the Santisima Muerte

The New Orleans Chapel of the Santisima Muerte is a non-profit organization registered in the State of Louisiana and Orleans Parish. It is an outdoor, public shrine for la Santisima Muerte.  The shrine is located on Palmyra Street, in between S. Olympia and S. Murat Streets, in the Mid City area of New Orleans, LA. Visitors are welcome to pray, leave offerings, give donations, and take pictures of the shrine. The outer-most doors of the three shrines (black, white, and red for the three robes of Santisima) open with a latch on the right side of each door.