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    La Santa Muerte

    So, I went to the grocery store and was thinking of picking up a votive candle (which I did, 'Sacred Heart of Jesus') however, they had these as well:



    Votive candles for La Santa Muerte, or Saint Death. While the worship of her is popularly associated with drug cartels, its moving far beyond that now to where I can get paraphernalia for her at Kroger.

    There are plenty of "folk saint" characters, like Jesus Malverde, but Santa Muerte is different in the mass popularity she is achieving, and as a personal note of interest for me, the way she seems to likely be an evolution of the Aztec goddess Mictecacihuatl into the modern era (obviously the origins of Santa Muerte, so this is only speculation on scholar's part, but it seems to makes sense to me with the continuation of the same imagery). That the goddess has been synchronized with the Catholic beliefs of the area is inevitable for survival on a mass scale.

    Anyways, I'm curious what everyone's thoughts on her are. As I told Nightingale when I saw it, if Santa Muerte is a continuation of an Aztec goddess, now that she is in grocery stores in my hometown, she's back in the big leagues lol.
    hey look, I have a book! And look I have a second one too!

    #2
    Re: La Santa Muerte

    Walmart is your grocery store down there? I mean, like I know there's a few Supercentres in Canada, but...I didn't think people actually shopped there.


    Mostly art.

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      #3
      Re: La Santa Muerte

      Yeh Vol,we have a big WM here as well,does kinda make for a one stop for everything kinda thing.
      MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

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        #4
        Re: La Santa Muerte

        Originally posted by volcaniclastic View Post
        Walmart is your grocery store down there? I mean, like I know there's a few Supercentres in Canada, but...I didn't think people actually shopped there.
        #1 grocery retailer and #1 general merchandise retailer in the world; #1 US employer (well, after the US government).

        Santa Muerte makes me think of Machete in a Christmas movie...
        I often wish that I had done drugs in the '70s. At least there'd be a reason for the flashbacks. - Rick the Runesinger

        Blood and CountryTribe of my Tribe
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        For the Yule was upon them, the Yule; and they quaffed from the skulls of the slain,
        And shouted loud oaths in hoarse wit, and long quaffing swore laughing again.

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          #5
          Re: La Santa Muerte

          There are also some interesting links between the Virgin of Guadalupe and the goddess Tonantzin that might interest you, Malfic.

          Purely UPG, but the last neighborhood I lived in was mostly first generation Hispanic immigrants. Cops passed through three or four times per night, massive Santa Muerte decals on the backs of low-riders, several very nice and respectful gentlemen with teardrop tattoos...0.o

          I had the biggest meditation/magical practice block when we moved in. I had never experienced anything like it. It wasn't an outright hostile vibe, I did not feel entirely welcome. Santa Muerte everywhere, for weeks. The thing that finally made the situation more hospitable was setting up a nice little table on the patio with a new white tablecloth, candles for Santa Muerte St. Martin and The Virgin, home made tamales, conchas, and flowers. Alcohol was poured.

          Still never felt ok with bringing Odin into things, but I didn't have issues with other gods or goddesses after that. An amusing side effect was that the little neighborhood kids finally had their parents make them leave my herbs alone.

          More valuable in the long run was that it encouraged me to finally stop taking family stories about my ancestors in Mexico at face value and do my own research...and realize that there were some very valid reasons why no one wanted them in Mexico during the revolution. Very illuminating about my own personal history.
          Great Grandmother's Kitchen

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            #6
            Re: La Santa Muerte

            Originally posted by volcaniclastic View Post
            Walmart is your grocery store down there? I mean, like I know there's a few Supercentres in Canada, but...I didn't think people actually shopped there.
            I don't go to walmart, I shop at Kroger, but it is the most popular grocery store in my city....

            I put a walmart link cause they had the best picture of the candle on their website.
            hey look, I have a book! And look I have a second one too!

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              #7
              Re: La Santa Muerte

              We have Santa Muerte Candles in other grocery stores as well. Which is handy because I don't shop at Wal-Mart.

              anyways....few ideas....I dont' know the associations between SM and the cartel, maybe it's like gangsta rappers wearing crosses/crucifexes, it's a "thing".

              but my own experiences and musings. I was raised Catholic, and there was this constant talk about having a good death, a holy death. We were supposed to prepare for it, preen for it, and one of the best things that could be said about a person was that they had a good death. Meaning they had confessed, had no mortal sins on their soul and hopefully received the sacrament of Extreme Unction and died praying.

              Personally, death IS a "saint" in that it is holy, it is sacred, it is a gift. To me, life is more sacred because of death. Because it will end. We do not have to life forever, amuse ourselves forever, suffer forever, etc. It will end. What we do has a certain sweetness to it in that it will not last forever.

              The Days of the Dead is a very special holy time for me each year. I do burn a Santa Muerte candle (as well as many others) and the dead do visit, and there are things they miss about life, and many things they don't. They urge me to live a good life, to enjoy the sensual things, good food, drink, etc. To enjoy the physical feelings that don't go on in death. Death is good, but so is life, and the things of life.

              I feel like Santa Muerte is a reminder of that. We love the Sun, but we rejoice in the night to rest and sleep. We love life, but we rejoice that there is Death, an end to the struggle, as well. It's all good. It's all necessary. We don't need to fear it, even though the unknown is always scary.

              The days of the dead give us a yearly oppotunity to address mortality, our own and that of loved ones. To explore, dance with, and poke fun at mortality. To call it forward and recognize it as part of life. Santa Muerte is the same, an opportunity to weave the reality of death into our life and faith practice. To hold that awareness in the today, and let mortality season our life, like a little salt seasons a dish, and brings out the flavor.

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                #8
                Re: La Santa Muerte

                Originally posted by Dez View Post
                There are also some interesting links between the Virgin of Guadalupe and the goddess Tonantzin that might interest you, Malfic.

                Purely UPG, but the last neighborhood I lived in was mostly first generation Hispanic immigrants. Cops passed through three or four times per night, massive Santa Muerte decals on the backs of low-riders, several very nice and respectful gentlemen with teardrop tattoos...0.o

                I had the biggest meditation/magical practice block when we moved in. I had never experienced anything like it. It wasn't an outright hostile vibe, I did not feel entirely welcome. Santa Muerte everywhere, for weeks. The thing that finally made the situation more hospitable was setting up a nice little table on the patio with a new white tablecloth, candles for Santa Muerte St. Martin and The Virgin, home made tamales, conchas, and flowers. Alcohol was poured.

                Still never felt ok with bringing Odin into things, but I didn't have issues with other gods or goddesses after that. An amusing side effect was that the little neighborhood kids finally had their parents make them leave my herbs alone.

                More valuable in the long run was that it encouraged me to finally stop taking family stories about my ancestors in Mexico at face value and do my own research...and realize that there were some very valid reasons why no one wanted them in Mexico during the revolution. Very illuminating about my own personal history.
                I looked into those ties, and they are indeed pretty fascinating. This idea of meso-american gods sticking around through Christian imagery is one I might have to look more into over all. Huh.

                I'm also curious about your personal history now and why no one wanted your ancestors in Mexico...
                hey look, I have a book! And look I have a second one too!

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: La Santa Muerte

                  As far as I know, Santa Muerte is heavily influenced by Pre-Christian Aztec religion. You know "In death lies the seed of life, in life lies the seed of death", how people had to die so the Sun could live, all of that with Christianized elements. It's why it's so popular in Mexico.

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                    #10
                    Re: La Santa Muerte

                    Originally posted by Ektor View Post
                    As far as I know, Santa Muerte is heavily influenced by Pre-Christian Aztec religion. You know "In death lies the seed of life, in life lies the seed of death", how people had to die so the Sun could live, all of that with Christianized elements. It's why it's so popular in Mexico.
                    Indeed she does! She also shares much of the same visual imagery as Mictecacihuatl, such as her open mouth, an owl being her animal, etc.
                    hey look, I have a book! And look I have a second one too!

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                      #11
                      Re: La Santa Muerte

                      It's like Tonantzin and the Guadalupe Virgin with the temple thing.

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                        #12
                        Re: La Santa Muerte

                        Yup, very similar. I find the ways aspects of old religions can perpetuate themselves to be fascinating. However, its easy to get carried away, and make assumptions that aren't true out of a desire to make ties between things in the past. But the ties here seem stronger than usual.
                        hey look, I have a book! And look I have a second one too!

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: La Santa Muerte

                          Originally posted by volcaniclastic View Post
                          Walmart is your grocery store down there? I mean, like I know there's a few Supercentres in Canada, but...I didn't think people actually shopped there.
                          Walmart is the biggest store in a lot of towns. They kind of rule this place. Most people I know shop there for EVERYTHING. I am upset by this. I call it a disgusting Capitalist, consumerist, materialist Corporatocracy. I am also boycotting Walmart, but a lot of people actually depend on it to get through their daily lives, and one girl boycotting isn't going to change much. Still, they don't get any of my money.

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                            #14
                            Re: La Santa Muerte

                            Originally posted by Malflick View Post

                            I'm also curious about your personal history now and why no one wanted your ancestors in Mexico...
                            Story time, then

                            I was raised something like 6th generation Latter-Day Saint, i.e. had ancestors who knew Joseph Smith personally and are mentioned in church doctrine.

                            During the polygamy years Brigham Young was legitimately concerned that the US government would wipe them out, so groups of four to six polygamist families were sent to begin settlements all the way from Canada down through Mexico.

                            My ancestors did well under Juarez and then Diaz. My grandmother said they were poor, but it was Chihuahua, so poor is relative, especially when you are landowners of European descent and the Mexican people could own no land themselves and had very few rights. Of course when the revolution came they were viewed as haciendidos...rather like plantation owners in America, but functioning off of the brutal poverty of the people rather then slavery. Even when my great grandfather was absent for years, my great grandmother fed and clothed a dozen kids and put them through school on a combination of dirt-cheap labor force and selling small portions of their farm. This meant that when my grandmother reached her mid 80's and developed Alzheimer's, we would have a regular conversation about why it was me cooking and cleaning for her, and no, she couldn't find a teenage Mexican girl to do so for pennies per day(and yes, she insisted it had to be a girl, men did field work; brought in a male Hispanic nurse to help lighten my load once and she flipped).

                            They were booted over the border during my grandmother's childhood, and most of her family chose to relocate to Snowflake, Az, rather then resettle once things calmed down like the Romneys and Kimballs did. Up until then, though, their farms were in a rather strategic location, and so raids were frequent, and a couple of favorite stories involve Pancho Villa.

                            All if the above qualifies as religious persecution in the narrative of my family. It was unnerving to realize what a dramatically different tale could be told from pretty much any other perspective. 0.o
                            Great Grandmother's Kitchen

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                              #15
                              Re: La Santa Muerte

                              Interesting story, Dez . I also find a lot of humor in the ironically named Snowflake, AZ. Reading that caused an involuntary smile .

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