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A small religious group that worships the grim reaper and is fighting for government recognition unveiled a softer image of their Death Saint today: a woman with a porcelain face, brown, shoulder-length hair and long thin fingers. Hundreds of worshippers filed into the Santa Muerte sanctuary in central Mexico City to see the statue in a flowing golden dress and veil, clutching a rose. She offers another option to followers who have traditionally prayed to figures of a skeleton dressed in a black cloak and carrying a scythe, or in a long flowing white gown. ... Santa Muerte, which some believe to be rooted in pre-Colombian beliefs, is one of several unofficial folk saints worshipped in Mexico.
Death drops scythe, adopts 'softer' look
La Santisima Muerte is a "banned saint," the Roman Catholic "cover" for an ancient Aztec goddess named Mictlantecuhtli, a death goddess and co-ruler, with her husband, of the underworld. Mictlantecuhtli is the sister to the Aztec heavenly goddess Tonantzin, who has been syncretized with the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe. That's why Mictlantecuhtli became "Most Holy Death, The Virgin Mary as a Skeleton."
La Santisima Muerte
Wiki: Santa Muerte
A small religious group that worships the grim reaper and is fighting for government recognition unveiled a softer image of their Death Saint today: a woman with a porcelain face, brown, shoulder-length hair and long thin fingers. Hundreds of worshippers filed into the Santa Muerte sanctuary in central Mexico City to see the statue in a flowing golden dress and veil, clutching a rose. She offers another option to followers who have traditionally prayed to figures of a skeleton dressed in a black cloak and carrying a scythe, or in a long flowing white gown. ... Santa Muerte, which some believe to be rooted in pre-Colombian beliefs, is one of several unofficial folk saints worshipped in Mexico.
Death drops scythe, adopts 'softer' look
La Santisima Muerte is a "banned saint," the Roman Catholic "cover" for an ancient Aztec goddess named Mictlantecuhtli, a death goddess and co-ruler, with her husband, of the underworld. Mictlantecuhtli is the sister to the Aztec heavenly goddess Tonantzin, who has been syncretized with the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe. That's why Mictlantecuhtli became "Most Holy Death, The Virgin Mary as a Skeleton."
La Santisima Muerte
Wiki: Santa Muerte