Santa Muerte – the Grim Reaper, the Holy Death – I’d heard of him, off course. Those of my own faith call him the Devil. But not until a week ago did I know him as an object of devotion. Then, in just six short days, I see two very different faces of Saint Death.

Theological reading

The first face shows in Around the World in 80 Faiths, a BBC programme from the religion & ethics department. Peter Owen-Jones, extreme pilgrim and Anglican vicar, travels around the world “to take the religious pulse of the planet.”

In episode 7, on South America, reverend Owen-Jones finds himself in the slums of Mexico city, visiting a Santa Muerte shrine. The doors of the shrine are open to everybody, from every walk of life. To Owen-jones, a theologist, it’s an accepting faith, a faith that draws in people from the back-alleys of society: ex-convicts, criminals, murderers.

Unlike the Catholic God, so omnipresent across South America, Santa Muerte expects little of its devotees. Thus, says reverend Owen-Jones, it is no surprise that faith in Saint Death is on the rise in a society like Mexico’s, torn apart by drug-related crime. Santa Muerte, Death, brings hope to those who’s past has been tainted by violence. You always receive a warm welcome among other death worshippers, even when the doors of the Church are shut.

Social reading

Marjon van Royen, journalist, foreign correspondent for the NOS to South America, introduces us to the second face of Santa Muerte. She’s back in Holland, and talks to Pauw en Witteman about her experiences in Mexico, where she shot several items on drug related crime.

She mentions Santa Muerte worship. In a society where the leaders of drug syndicates are idolised, where violence is accepted, even encouraged as a way of life, it’s telling, says van Royen, that Saint Death has it’s own devotees.

Santa Muerte isn’t drawing castouts back into society, it’s casting people out, into the arms of the drug syndicates, of violence, crime, and death. Santa Muerte isn’t an accepting faith, accepting Santa Muerte means accepting a society where violence and death are commonplace. The growth of the Church of Santa Muerte is indicative only of the problems that face Mexican society, of people coming to terms with the violence that surrounds them.