The Great Secret of Holy Death - стр. 2

Birth and death are part of the human life cycle. We are not aware of our birth because we are babies, but the reality of adulthood makes the awareness of death a priority.

In the 1960s, the Holy Death became very popular after a villager saw her image drawn on the walls of his wooden hut at a place in Catemaco (Veracruz). He asked the priest of the village to verify the image and canonize it, but he refused. Then, the villagers decided to spread the apparition of the Holy Death from person to person, without having a place to venerate her.

In Mexico, the Aztec civilisation recognised the human life cycle which was represented by two deities: Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl, the Lord and the Lady of Mictlan, the place where common dead went after a long and difficult journey. The temple was located in the ceremonial centre of the ancient city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Its name was Tlalxico, which means “navel of the earth”.

To appear before the Lord and the Lady of Death, the dead had to overcome many obstacles such as: move away from colliding rocks, cross deserts and hills, suffer threats in the form of a crocodile named Xochitonal, winds with sharp obsidian stones, a mighty river difficult to cross and ask for the help of a dog which would be sacrificed the same day of the person’s funeral (Xoloitzcuintli).

Some of these pre-Hispanic beliefs are still latent in Mexican popular culture, such as November 2nd or the Day of the Dead, when they celebrate the day of their deceased ancestors. The idea is to remember the dead with joy, just as they lived in life, and not with the sadness and grief of their death; it is very popular to bring music to funerals to dance and brighten the departure of the dead. Death is seen as a suffering being with a very painful job, which was given a great power but also a great burden that nobody sees.

Mexicans also had other representations of death; such as tzompantli or “skull rack”, rows of wooden poles used to display human skulls, as in the abacuses. These “skull racks” were found in the great temples of Ancient Mexico and were considered an important part of the cult of death. Death could also be represented by skull figures carved in stone, in clay, or skulls beautifully painted. Human skulls decorated with flints and shells instead of eyes have also been found. The experts have not agreed on the meaning of these skulls, but they assume they were some sort of offering to the lords of death. Traces of stark death, ornso be it’s of the Goddess Coatlicue, offerings in ritual incense burners, and figures of all types and sizes have also been found.

This indicates that there was a very strong cult towards death among the ancient Mexicans, and also among the Mayans, the Tarascans and the Totonacs, who also had a great devotion to death.

Then, the Spanish arrived and it was thought that the cult to death would be forgotten, but that was not the case: Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl (mainly the latter) remained hidden and many of their devotees continued following them.

In his study on the Holy Death, the archaeologist Carlos Navarrete suggests that the popular devotion could be due to the syncretism between a Christian deity related to death and Saint Pascual Baylon, a Catholic saint and the Animas Solas (Lonely Souls).