San La Muerte

San La Muerte (Saint Death) is a religious figure who is worshiped in Paraguay, the Northeast of Argentina (mainly in the province of Corrientes but also in Misiones, Chaco and Formosa) and southern Brazil (specifically the in the states of Panará, Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul). As the result of internal migration in Argentina since the 1960s worship of San La Muerte has been extended to Greater Buenos Aires and the national prison system as well.

Saint Death is depicted as a male skeleton figure usually holding a scythe. Although the Catholic Church has attacked the worship of Saint Death as a pagan tradition contrary to the Christian belief of Christ defeating death, many people consider worshiping San La Muerte as being part of their Catholic faith.

Although the rituals connected to and powers ascribed to San La Muerte are very similar San La Muerte should not be confused with the similar religious figure Santa Muerte who is worshiped in Mexico and parts of the US, but is typically depicted by a female skeleton figure [K. Freese: " [http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/Santa-Muerte/santa-muerte.htm The death Cult of the Drug Lords Mexico's Patron Saint of Crime, Criminals and the Dispossessed] " Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, KS., 2005] .

Origins

San La Muerte is one of many popular saints worshiped in the
Guaraní language region that covers parts of Paraguay, north-eastern Argentina and southern Brazil. Others include San Biquicho, San Alejo and Santa Catalina. Other names for San La Muerte include Señor De La Muerte (Lord of the Death), Señor De La Buena Muerte (Lord of the Good Death) or - mainly in Paraguay - San Esqueleto (Saint Skeleton). It is assumed that San La Muerte was first worshiped among the Guaraní Indians following the expulsion of their Jesuit missionaries in 1767, as a mixture of their previous beliefs and the newly imported Catholic faith. Some of the Guarani tribes worshiped the bones of ancestors demanding protection against natural phenomena and adverse spiritual forces. However there is currently no authoritative account of the origins of the San La Muerte cult.

Practice

To believers, San La Muerte exists within the context of the Catholic faith and is comparable to other purely supernatural beings such as archangels. The San La Muerte cult involves prayers, rituals, and offerings, which are given directly to San La Muerte in expectation of and tailored to the fulfillment of specific requests. Offerings can include (human) blood, alcoholic drinks, candles and other valuable objects. San La Muerte receives offerings in exchange for favors related to a wide range of personal problems: San La Muerte is said to help to restore love, health and fortune, to protect worshippers from witchcraft, to heal people upon whom somebody has cast the evil eye and to grant good luck in gambling. Next to these powers that are commonly attributed to folk saints San La Muerte is also said to be able to grant a number of requests that are connected to crime and violence: It is believed that the saint can bring death upon the enemies off his devotees, can keep people from being sent to prison and shorten prison terms of prison inmates and that he can help in the recovery of stolen and misappropriated items.

The San La Muerte cult is characterized by a moral code that must be obeyed. In the cult of San La Muerte worshippers have numerous obligation towards the saint, which they must honor in exchange for his protection. While followers "requests" favors from other saints they "demand" them from San La Muerte. Communication with San La Muerte takes place through prayers that are passed on between believers. The San La Muerte cult is is based on punishment and submission and to be granted a favor the saint sometimes must even be threatened. Commons threats involve hunger or banishment to an uninhabited place until the favor is granted. When graces are granted, the saint will be rewarded and fed but never fully, in order to increase the chances of him soon being willing to grant another grace.

For most worshipers San La Muerte offers personal and non-transferable protection that will only be accessible to others when - after the death of the original owner - he or she has acquired the sculpture. There are also intermediaries such as witch doctors and traditional healers who invoke San La Muerte's power on behalf of their clients, usually concealing the image from sight of their customers. In other cases San La Muerte is kept as a concealed household saint, extending his protection upon all family members with no distinction. A number of public altars that are devoted to San La Muerte can also be found. They are run by devoted worshipers acting as guardians of and caretakers for these altars. Some of these altars host public festivities on the 15th of august, San La Muerte's saint's day (Since San La Muerte is not included in the saint's calendar of the Catholic Church the date is somewhat contested and in some cases his saint's day is celebrated on the 13th of august). [M.J. Carozzi and D. Miguez: "Multiple Versions of 'The Fairest of all Saints' in "San La Muerte - Una Voz Extraña", Buenos Aires, 2005]

Image

The San La Muerte cult is based on interactions between worshipers and the Saint Death represented by man-made sculptures. Individual sculptures are addressed as San La Muerte (because of their small size they San La Muerte may also colloquially be referred to as 'Santito' ('Small Saint'). The representation of San La Muerte varies according to the individual saint maker that has crafted him, however the classic figure is a human skeleton, standing, with simple, minimalistic features. The skeleton usually carries a scythe, in some cases with drops of blood on the edge. The same image can be dressed mostly in black and red cloths. Other representations include a standing skeletons without a scythe, sitting skeletons and skeletons in a coffin.

San La Muerte sculptures can be carved from wood, bones, metal (especially bullets) and usually stand between 15 and three centimeters tall. Increased powers are attributed to sculptures made from raw materials from special sources such as the last phalanx bone of the little finger, bones from dead babies and wood taken from dead peoples coffins or crucifixes belonging to people who died recently. Other, more common raw materials include guaiac tree and cedar tree wood. [A. Schinini: "Popular Devotion in Sacred Carvings" in "San La Muerte - Una Voz Extraña", Buenos Aires, 2005]

According to believers of the San La Muerte cult a San La Muerte sculpture, in order to be able to grant favors, needs to be consecrated by a Catholic priest for seven times. If the sculpture is carved out of the bone of a catholic man it only needs to be consecrated five times (as the bone has already been consecrated twice). To get sculptures of San La Muerte blessed, worshipers resort to subterfuge by concealing a picture of San La Muerte underneath a picture of a normal saint. When a priest blesses the regular saint picture, it is felt that San La Muerte underneath has also been blessed. [G. Insarralde: "The body as a metaphor for Faith" in "San La Muerte - Una Voz Extraña", Buenos Aires, 2005]

Aside from sculptures that are usually kept on an altar or at a fixed place in the house there are a range of personal forms of the ritual that entail representations of San La Muerte being worn on (in the from of amulets and tattoos) or in the body (in the form of carvings inserted under the skin of the worshiper). San La muerte tattoos, amulets and body insertions are believed to offer special protection from death, bodily harm and imprisonment. Among devotees, fired bullets, preferably those that have wounded or killed a Christian man, are regarded as the most powerful raw material for amulets. Other materials for amulets include (human) bone, silver and gold. Tattoos of San La Muerte exhibit a wide variety of styles. From rudimentary outlines to elaborate depictions of three dimensional figures. Images of San La Muerte are usually accompanied by partial or complete transcriptions of prayers to him.

ee also

*Death (personification)
*Death deity
*Santa Muerte

References

External links

* [http://tinwiki.org/wiki/San_La_Muerte tinwiki.org entry for San La Muerte]