A Mexican boy, sitting next to his sister, shows a figurine of Santa Muerte (Holy Death) during a religious pilgrimage in Tepito, a rough district of Mexico City, Mexico, 1 April 2018. The religious cult of Santa Muerte is a fusion of Aztec death worship rituals and Catholic beliefs. Born in lower-class neighborhoods of Mexico City, it has always been closely associated with crime. In the past decades, original Santa Muerte followers, such as prostitutes, pickpockets and street drug...
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A Mexican boy, sitting next to his sister, shows a figurine of Santa Muerte (Holy Death) during a religious pilgrimage in Tepito, a rough district of Mexico City, Mexico, 1 April 2018. The religious cult of Santa Muerte is a fusion of Aztec death worship rituals and Catholic beliefs. Born in lower-class neighborhoods of Mexico City, it has always been closely associated with crime. In the past decades, original Santa Muerte followers, such as prostitutes, pickpockets and street drug traffickers, have merged with thousands of ordinary Mexican Catholics. The Holy Death veneration, offering a spiritual way out of hardship in modern society, rapidly expanded. Although the Catholic Church still considers Santa Muerte followers the devil worshippers, on the first day of every month, crowds of Santa Muerte believers fill the streets of Tepito. Holding statues of Holy Death clothed in a long robe, they pray for healing, protection, money or any other favor in life.
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