MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - In Mexico, the world's second biggest Catholic
country, an unofficial cult of death is winning followers, from influential
politicians and police officers to drug pushers and violent criminals.
On a sidewalk in Mexico City's lawless Tepito district, gangsters and
ordinary housewives rub shoulders as they pay homage before am shrine to
Santa Muerte, or Saint Death, leaving offerings of colored candles,
cigarettes and alcohol.
A statue of the unorthodox saint cuts a ghoulish figure as a life-size
skeleton in a glittering robe, a tiara atop her long-haired wig and bony
fingers laden with gold rings and money offerings in many currencies.
....
More at
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=5132488
Of special interest, perhaps, is this section:
====
"Santa Muerte is a saint like any other. She performs many miracles," said
shaven-headed taxi driver Eduardo Ruben Villegas, 35, who sports multiple
tattoos and has an altar in his home to Santa Muerte.
He has been a devotee since she cured his sister of cancer, he said.
Villegas has an image of Santa Muerte hanging from the rear view mirror of
his taxi, on his car keys and on three pendants he wears around his neck.
"She protects me a lot in my car. I haven't ever been assaulted," he said.
===
I wonder if devotees of any traditional religions would care to put their
deities up against Saint Death miracle for miracle...
--
"We have loved the stars too fondly | a.a. #2001
to be fearful of the night." | http://www.ebonmusings.org
--Tombstone epitaph of | e-mail: ebonmuse!hotmail.com
two amateur astronomers, | ICQ: 8777843
quoted in Carl Sagan's _Cosmos_ | PGP Key ID: 0x5C66F737
----------------------------------------------------------------------
.
|
