The folk-Catholic saint
Santa Muerte (Holy Death) is honored with two feast days: August 15 and November 1 in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. The history of Santa Muerte is long, controversial, and complicated. The Wikipedia posting for this saint's day is one of the longest I've seen and it's worth reading.
Members of the Catholic church hierarchy have called veneration of this saint blasphemy, roadside alters have been destroyed by the military, and yet the cult of Santa Muerte flourishes. Her followers have been associated with drug lords and other outsiders.
Santa Muerte's image is a skeleton dressed in robes. She grants requests that some might be afraid to ask of more traditional saints. Her image can be found on everything from tattoos to key chains. More often than not, marijuana instead of incense is blown her way.
Your curiosity is peaked, yes? Read the
Wikipedia posting and then check out National Geographic's article "
Vatican in a Bind about Santa Muerte" or NPR's story "
Saint Death Now Revered on Both Sides of U.S. - Mexico Frontier." Actually, just Google the heck out of her. It's all interesting.
If you have time left after doing all that, hop over to
Oeroeboeroe on Etsy for some embroidered images of Santa Muerte.
Meander through the rest of the shop too!
If you have a skeleton in your house, decorate it with flowers today.
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