Possibly the most popular folk saint in Mexico, Santa Muerte is rapidly gaining popularity in the US. As you might imagine, the spread of her popularity amongst non-Mexicans has brought up the issue of cultural appropriation.
Last Sunday I had the pleasure of giving a lecture on Santa Muerte down at the Spooked in Seattle Metaphysical market. I opened my lecture by clearly stating that while I am Latina, I am not Mexican and am in no way an authority on Santa Muerte. The only leg up I've got on anybody else coming from the US is that I understand Spanish well enough to read primary sources on her. I've been working with her on and off for about five years now and have been working with her heavily for the at least the last two. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on how to work with her respectfully and without being culturally appropriative.
Santa Muerte is a uniquely Mexican figure. While her origin myths vary pretty substantially depending on who's doing the telling, they all agree that she is 100% indigenous to Mexico. She is very much "of the people." She is also the ultimate in egalitarianism - death comes to us all. It is for this reason she has essentially become the patron of the marginalized, forgotten, and reviled. She's a saint for working days. For many of Mexico's underclasses she is the only sacred figure they feel they can come to in their times of need, the only one that will listen to them. As you might imagine, Santa Muerte's followers sometimes feel rather possessive of her.
In many respects Santa Muerte belongs to the Mexican people, but that doesn't mean you have to be Mexican to work with her. It does mean that you have to be extremely respectful of her cultural context. Santa Muerte is a folk saint. As such, much of her established liturgy is made of variants to traditional Catholic worship: rosaries, novenas, masses, etc. If you're comfortable with Christian iconography you can go ahead and use the published prayers that you can easily find for her online (try SantaMuerte.org). If Hail Marys and Our Fathers aren't really your thing (and boy howdy are they NOT my thing), you can probably find variants on the traditional prayers that will work for you. If you understand Spanish I highly recommend performing any prayers/petitions/etc in Spanish.
What I do not recommend is taking Santa Muerte out of her traditional context and plugging her into an existing Pagan framework. If you do your homework before trying to work with Santa Muerte you will learn that she doesn't really work with others. She likes to have her own altar, her own workings, and she likes things a certain way. Just because other Death figures you may work with are partial to offerings of rotting meat does not mean such offerings are suitable for Santa Muerte.
Further, do not - under ANY circumstances - syncretize Santa Muerte with other death spirits or deities. While there are certainly mythological similarities between Santa Muerte, Hecate, Hel, and other underworld figures does not mean you can exchange them for one another. Gods, spirits, saints, and other metaphysical personalities are unique beings and cannot simply be substituted for one another. All such figures deserve the respect of you doing your homework on them and figuring out what they like and how they want you to work with them. Don't be the horrible uncle that always gives you presents that your big sister would like because, "Hey you're both girls, so you must like the same things right?" Don't be that guy.
If you want to work with Santa Muerte take the time to do your research beforehand. Be respectful of the culture she comes from and the established liturgies and workings that are already in use. Be sincere in your workings with her. Don't make assumptions about her based on how similar figures from other pantheons would behave. Treat her right and Santa Muerte will be an amazing ally. Fuck around with her at your peril.
Last Sunday I had the pleasure of giving a lecture on Santa Muerte down at the Spooked in Seattle Metaphysical market. I opened my lecture by clearly stating that while I am Latina, I am not Mexican and am in no way an authority on Santa Muerte. The only leg up I've got on anybody else coming from the US is that I understand Spanish well enough to read primary sources on her. I've been working with her on and off for about five years now and have been working with her heavily for the at least the last two. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on how to work with her respectfully and without being culturally appropriative.
Santa Muerte is a uniquely Mexican figure. While her origin myths vary pretty substantially depending on who's doing the telling, they all agree that she is 100% indigenous to Mexico. She is very much "of the people." She is also the ultimate in egalitarianism - death comes to us all. It is for this reason she has essentially become the patron of the marginalized, forgotten, and reviled. She's a saint for working days. For many of Mexico's underclasses she is the only sacred figure they feel they can come to in their times of need, the only one that will listen to them. As you might imagine, Santa Muerte's followers sometimes feel rather possessive of her.
In many respects Santa Muerte belongs to the Mexican people, but that doesn't mean you have to be Mexican to work with her. It does mean that you have to be extremely respectful of her cultural context. Santa Muerte is a folk saint. As such, much of her established liturgy is made of variants to traditional Catholic worship: rosaries, novenas, masses, etc. If you're comfortable with Christian iconography you can go ahead and use the published prayers that you can easily find for her online (try SantaMuerte.org). If Hail Marys and Our Fathers aren't really your thing (and boy howdy are they NOT my thing), you can probably find variants on the traditional prayers that will work for you. If you understand Spanish I highly recommend performing any prayers/petitions/etc in Spanish.
What I do not recommend is taking Santa Muerte out of her traditional context and plugging her into an existing Pagan framework. If you do your homework before trying to work with Santa Muerte you will learn that she doesn't really work with others. She likes to have her own altar, her own workings, and she likes things a certain way. Just because other Death figures you may work with are partial to offerings of rotting meat does not mean such offerings are suitable for Santa Muerte.
Further, do not - under ANY circumstances - syncretize Santa Muerte with other death spirits or deities. While there are certainly mythological similarities between Santa Muerte, Hecate, Hel, and other underworld figures does not mean you can exchange them for one another. Gods, spirits, saints, and other metaphysical personalities are unique beings and cannot simply be substituted for one another. All such figures deserve the respect of you doing your homework on them and figuring out what they like and how they want you to work with them. Don't be the horrible uncle that always gives you presents that your big sister would like because, "Hey you're both girls, so you must like the same things right?" Don't be that guy.
If you want to work with Santa Muerte take the time to do your research beforehand. Be respectful of the culture she comes from and the established liturgies and workings that are already in use. Be sincere in your workings with her. Don't make assumptions about her based on how similar figures from other pantheons would behave. Treat her right and Santa Muerte will be an amazing ally. Fuck around with her at your peril.
No comments:
Post a Comment