The Great Secret of Holy Death - стр. 3

The Spanish Conquest was imposed by “blood and fire” on the indigenous people of Mexico, but there were also another conquest: the spiritual one, which was the total destruction of the divinities that made up the indigenous culture. However, despite all their efforts, some traces of the ancient religion still remained within Catholicism and the cult to the Holy Death is part of that distant past.

The conversion of the indigenous peoples was paramount for the Franciscan missionaries, and the resistance of the natives towards the new religious doctrines was a permanent condemnation for evangelisers. The malpractice of some indigenous people was denounced in a text written in c. 1600 which mainly described the idolatries in the small village of Tuxtla.

The only true God for Catholics was the one that was established in the Bible. Therefore, when they found another religious thought, they condemned it as if it was a satanic rite: but this was unfair since in Ancient Mexico the concept of hell was not known. The indigenous gods were venerated in pyramids, in hills and in caves, and during the first years of evangelisation the Catholic missionaries did not understand why people used to dance around bones (which had often belonged to high priests or leaders, and that was why they worshipped them). These were only some of the religious practices of the time, which were beyond the comprehension of the minds of conquerors and evangelisers.

To try to hide these practices, the faithful devotees of Mictlancihuatl most probably “dressed” the cult of this goddess with elements of Catholicism to avoid being punished. The mixture of both roots -Indigenous and European- and the addition of Creole elements gave rise to the cult of the Holy Death, as we know it today.

The current and contemporary cult of the Santísima Muerte (Most Holy Death) appeared in Hidalgo around 1965. And it is rooted in the states of Mexico, Guerrero, Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Campeche, Morelos and Distrito Federal (in the “barrio de Tepito” the cult is commonly used among criminals and merchants), Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Quintana Roo, Oaxaca, Tijuana and Guanajuato. It was integrated with the cult to Tonantzin (female deity for the natives and later syncretised in the Virgin of Guadalupe) and that of the Virgin Mary.

The Holy Death is a spiritual entity, an image, a soul that helps and protects anyone who comes to her to ask for favours. She does not work under any kind of magic, neither white nor black. It has sometimes been said that the Holy Death is sinister, painful, cruel and cold, but this is not the case.

Devotees to the Holy Death report that among other favours, she can grant miracles to those who venerate her. Her worship has also been associated with criminals, prostitutes and drug dealers. People living in modern cities and villages also invoke her protection. However, people who live in situations of high risk are usually the ones who venerate her the most, wearing medals or images of the Holy Death or even a tattoo in their skin. Her image can be found mainly in soldiers, policemen, drug dealers, criminals and prostitutes. The Most Holy Death is a symbol that represents people living between the legal and the illegal, but her cult can also be found in the highest strata of society.