La Santa Muerte hoy: imagen personificada, dones e iniciación en el culto

Abstract

One of the principal characteristics of the veneration of the Santa Muerte (Holy or Saint Death) is its plurality of practices and rituals. Nowadays there are many spaces to worship the “White Girl” from small street altars, some itinerant ones, and other important sites where thousands of believers appeal to the efficacy of she who is also known as the “Justice Seeker.” The following essay intends to shed light on some of the practices that structure the worship of Holy Death; there are at least three major ones: the personification of images by the believers; gift exchange; and the way they approach the cult. In that sense, attempts are made to expand the panorama and to understand how this cult, since it became public, has acquired certain specific forms that make it possible to understand part of its persistence in the world of widespread religious belief in Mexico.