Religion Dispatches
…altars replete with offerings to the souls of the dead. For devotees of La Santa Muerte, November 1 is set aside as a special feast day—a devotion made notorious by US (and European) news media as a shadowy, macabre, and even gruesome cult venerated solely by drug traffickers. But this is a mistaken perception, fueled largely by American fears of an exotic and unknown Mexico. La Santa Muerte, which literally translates to “Holy Death” or “Sacred…
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…h 5th premiere, Reza and I talked about the decline of religious literacy, Santa Muerte and immigration, why institutional religion is really about control, and how to break through the myths and symbols of religious difference to find common ground. ______ Kaya Oakes: What was the impulse to do this series as a television show? What can TV show us about religion that a book can’t? Reza Aslan: My entire career has been built around trying to give…
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…es for alternative religion in North America. Like the Manson murders, the Santa Muerte murders present a concrete instance of violence that can be used to support much broader claims about the dangers of the religious and cultural Other. In Mexican folk tradition, Santa Muerte or “Saint Death” is portrayed as a skeletal woman, often wearing a white cloak or a wedding dress. She claims devotees among all walks of life, but her help is especially s…
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…s, and so on, doesn’t change the racial hierarchy. We never refer to white Santa as “white Santa,” he’s just Santa Claus. Because of anti-black racism, Black Santa isn’t simply Santa Claus, but “Black Santa,” an inferior or imitation version. When some Black parents (or as Heather Tirado Gilligan experienced in “I’m Dreaming Of A Less White Christmas For My Child of Color”) insist on a Black Santa their perceptive children quickly retort “Santa is…
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…uction of some thirty shrines dedicated to their patron saint. Devotion to Santa Muerte, also known as La Flaca (the skinny one) and La Nina Blanca (the white girl), began as a popular movement within Mexican Catholicism and is now developing into an autonomous religious institution. Depicted as a skeletal woman wearing a white cloak, or sometimes a wedding dress, Santa Muerte is called upon for healing, prosperity, protection, and revenge. Her de…
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…” At the Religion News Service, Stephen Woodman writes about a folk saint, Santa Muerte, who has become popular among transgender women in Mexico: Violence against transgender women is common in Mexico, mostly because employment discrimination forces many to turn to sex work for money. The skeleton saint — with her female form and association with death — is particularly appealing to transgender sex workers, who face the persistent threat of viole…
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…tian world have their own respective versions. Even if you do believe in a Santa, how can you be sure that your Santa is the right one? Unfortunately, this only helps the cause of the Pagan Throwback Santa that a liberal-minded person might like the idea of but would hardly take the time out of a busy day to appropriately placate. Things certainly don’t look good for the Santa familiar to most of us, the jolly old chap who dresses like Pope Benedi…
Read More…nce program. Somebody is surely watching us, but it is the government, not Santa. Santa and elves fit into our current moment of surveillance and data mining. The classic song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” illustrates how. Santa is an omnipresent figure who watches children both day and night. “He knows when you are sleeping/He knows when you’re awake.” He emerges as benevolent, only if you weren’t naughty. Be good, the song chides us, be good….
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…ows, only to discover that her innocent five-year-old daughter has invited Santa in, and is awaiting his “gift” with delight. The movie had the desired effect; Ruthie was all over me. The problem was that evil Santa came home with us. Ruthie was scared to go to sleep. That night, and two or three times a week for months afterward, she woke with nightmares about the Santa Claus Man, as she came to call him. He became a regular feature of her dreams…
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…lks at Repent Amarillo, the “Special Forces of spiritual warfare,” who put Santa before a firing squad. In a video by the outfit (who, by the way, “abhor violence”) Santa’s list of “heinous crimes against the Lord our God” are read out before the execution. Among them “idolatry” for replacing himself with Jesus Christ, and for being a “stumbling block to parents who lie to their children that you exist to bring them gifts.” Then, before the violen…
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