Mexican worshippers of Santa Muerte (Saint Death) pray in a temple in the historical center of Mexico City, Mexico.
Image details
Contributor:
Jan Sochor / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
C5X9H8File size:
53.9 MB (2.2 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
5316 x 3544 px | 45 x 30 cm | 17.7 x 11.8 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
1 June 2011Location:
Mexico City, MexicoMore information:
Mexican worshippers of Santa Muerte (Saint Death) pray in a temple in the historical center of Mexico City, Mexico, 1 June 2011. The religious cult of Santa Muerte is a syncretic 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's followers (such as prostitutes, pickpockets and street drug traffickers) have merged with thousands of ordinary Mexican Catholics. The Saint Death veneration, offering a spiritual way out of hardship in the modern society, has rapidly expanded. Although the Catholic Church considers the Santa Muerte's followers as devil worshippers, on the first day of every month, crowds of believers in Saint Death fill the streets of Tepito. Holding skeletal figurines of Holy Death clothed in a long robe, they pray for power healing, protection and favors and make petitions to ‘La Santísima Muerte’, who reputedly can make life-saving miracles.