Santa Muerte (Saint Death), otherwise known as La Santísima Muerte, and as Doña Sebastiana, is a "folk saint" or "mystical saint," in Mexico and Spanish speaking countries. She is a very popular religious figure, who receives petitions for love, luck, and protection. As the Spanish word for "death" (muerte) is feminine gender, "death" is often referred to as female.

The Catholic Church does not recognize Santa Muerte, but Mexicans affectionately refer to her as La Flaquita, "the skinny girl."

Santa Muerte is depicted as a skeleton and has both female and male representations. When male, he is frequently represented as the familiar Grim Reaper with a monk's hood and scythe. In the male form, he is frequently referred to as La Parka (the Scythe). Another name people use for her is La Catrina which is her classic image in the Dia de los Muertos art of Jose Guadalupe Posada which represents her as a skeleton woman, who is gaily dressed up for high society. Santa Muerte is also depicted in a long white satin gown and a golden crown. (In this form, many devotees view her as the Madonna as a skeleton.) These skeleton images are not considered morbid.

(c) 2007 M Woodling

Although she is not recognized as a saint by the Vatican, many people insist on praying to this figure for blessings and miracles. Statuary and amulets depicting her skeletal form and printed prayer cards and Novena booklets for her can be purchased throughout Mexico. The Novena de la Santisima Muerte apparently involves three novenas, with orthodox Catholic prayers, which must be recited over 27 days. Statues are made in red, white, green, and black – for love, luck, financial success, and protection.

The controversial saint is sometimes associated with marital fidelity, and is often used in love spells. In art, skeleton brides and grooms are depicted dancing, indicating a joyous life together and love until death. Traditional offerings to Santa Muerte include roses and tequila. Around Los Dias de los Muertos (Days of the Dead) public shrines to her are adorned with red roses and bottles of tequila, and candles are burnt in her honor. One source indicates that the cult of Santa Muerte largely originated in the 1960's as part of certain magical practices. Others trace this personification of death as developing during the medieval carnivals in European Catholic countries.

(c) 2007 M Woodling

Others, however, claim Santa Muerte's roots can be found in pre-Christian beliefs of Aztec Indians who worshipped Mictecacihuatl, the Goddess of Death, and her husband, Mictlantecuhtli, the God of Death.

As Santa Muerte is a "folk saint," there are many different traditions about her. Intriguingly, there are some Mexican traditions, primarily among the descendants of 19th century Austrian immigrants, in which Santa Muerte is believed to be the wife of Krampus. Krampus is an Austrian wintertime folklore spirit, who wears black and a horned mask. In the traditional Mexican dance, Danza de los Tres Poderes, among the characters portrayed by the dancers are a personification of death, the archangel San Miguel and a horned devil.

Santa Muerte has a complete system of devotions ascribed to her. Hence, Santa Muerte can grant many different types of petitions. There are very few folk saints that are believed to have this much power. Santa Muerte is one of those rare multifaceted spirits.

Copyright 2007 Myth Woodling

2013 Note: I first read about Santa Muerte in 2003 in FATE magazine I'd purchased (Todd Mecklem, Santa Muerte: Mexico's "Holy Death"FATE, Volume 56, Number 10, Issue 642, October 2003). A lot of the information in this handout was gleaned from that article.

In 2004, I had volunteered to run an information booth for Cheaspeake Pagan Community. We'd put a free ad in FATE and sent CPC a box of back issues to distribute. To my surprise a large number of these were the issue with the Todd Mecklem, Santa Muerte: Mexico's "Holy Death"FATE, Volume 56, Number 10, Issue 642, October 2003.

In 2006 at Cheaspeake Pagan Community's Samhain, one of our members, who is originally from Texas, had made calaveras de azucar, aka Mexican sugar skulls, for the kids attending to decorate and eat.

In 2007, Cheaspeake Pagan Community had its Samhain celebration on the first weekend of November. The member from Texas told everyone that she was planning to bring the calaveras de azucar (sugar skulls) again as a family activity in 2007. I decided to give two classes at our celebration. One class would be about the Mexican Day of the Dead and one about Santa Muerte. Folks had been asking me about the sugar skulls in 2006. I dressed up Mr. Bones as a festive Santa Muerte for Dia de los Muertos (Mexican Day of the Dead) as an example of La Catrina Calavera.

On Saturday, November 1, 2008, Thorn and I attended the Los Dias de los Muertos Celebration at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. We had previously attended this event in 2006. It was a 2-day family-friendly event of the Latin American holiday, "Los Dias de los Meurtos (Days of the Dead)," 10:30 to 4 p.m. We were able to sample pan de muertos (a special sweet bread made in honor of the occasion).

CPC's next Samhain celebration was on Sunday, November 2, 2008, which is "All Soul's Day" or "Day of the Dead" which is Santa Muerte's feast day. By popular request, we brought her back. We again decorated calaveras de azucar. Another member made and brought pan de muerto ("bread of the dead").

At this point it became rather obvious that Santa Muerte apparently wanted to be a regular feature of CPC's eclectic Samhain celebration. Thereafter, we set a figure of her on the CPC ancestor altar as Mother of the Dead.

People have asked me where I got the information about Santa Muerte being the wife of Krampus. I actually saw it in several different spots on the web when I wrote this page back in 2007 for an educational talk at CPC's Samhain. One the sources I read was an article from Reuters dated January 29, 2006, from correspondents in Mexico City. SAINT MUERTE - Cold Case Investigations. "In some Mexican traditions, most notably among the descendants of Austrian immigrants, Saint Death is believed to be the wife of Krampus."

Danza de los Tres Poderes (Dance of the Three Powers) was introduced in Mexico by missionaries to evangelize the natives. The main three characters among the dancers are the archangel San Miguel, the Devil, and a personification of death. It is possible that the horned figure in this dance somehow got mixed up with legends about Krampus and that the personification of death is assumed to be Santa Muerte.

Todd Mecklem, Santa Muerte: Mexico's "Holy Death" FATE, Volume 56, Number 10, Issue 642, October 2003

Mr. Bones dressed up as Santa Muerte for CPC Samhain
Santa Muerte at Samhain 2009
Prayers to Santa Muerte