Santa Muerte: Saint Death, Patron Saint of Cabrones

[BurtWorm]

Here's one reason why Mexico remains one of the most surreal places on earth, in many people's opinions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/26/international/americas/26MEXI.html?pagewanted=print&position=


March 26, 2004
MEXICO CITY JOURNAL
On Mexico's Mean Streets, the Sinners Have a Saint
By GINGER THOMPSON

MEXICO CITY — Santa Muerte does not look like some vision from heaven. In fact, she looks like hell: a scythe-wielding skeleton with a blood-curdling grin.

So perhaps it is fitting that most of her followers come from places that feel like hell on earth, places like Tepito, a crime-ravaged slum in the heart of this capital city.

It is a maze of littered streets, bustling with drug traffickers and street vendors offering everything from stolen television sets to rare and endangered birds.

But on the first day of every month, lawlessness gives way to impassioned displays of faith, as hundreds of men, women and children pack the streets to pray for miracles from Santa Muerte, or "Saint Death," a ghoul they have named an angel.