![]() ![]() Folk religion, in simplest terms, is a system of the beliefs, practices, rituals, and symbols that originate from something other than religious leadership. Turning to Santa Muerte when all fails, a folk religion is created most recognizable in the neighborhood of Tepito, a barrio in Mexico City devoted to the personification of death. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church not only refuses to recognize her but works to discredit her and excommunicate her devotees as well. Both the criminals who commit the violence and those who suffer from it look to her and readily accept that they leave recognized Catholicism. Those who pray to her are poor and/or disenfranchised as well. Santa Muerte is the saint for the marginalized. ![]() Worshiped by narcos, Santa Muerte is often referred to as the patron saint of the cartels. If you’re unaware of what Santa Muerte is, or only aware in so much as the boogeyman stories you hear about it from American news and media, it is, in fact, a complicated religion that surrounds the personification of death but is ultimately still grounded in Catholic traditions. Featuring curanderismo, the practice of healing, it’s the allusions to Santa Muerte that really takes you into the heart of both narco-cinema and the ways that folk traditions blend with Catholicism, often to push the latter out completely. While the new anime series from Powerhouse animation is a blend of grindhouse and Kung Fu cinema, it also has a story that is tied together with Mexican folk religion and magic. And then, Netflix released Seis Manos which explored magic and religion through the lens of grindhouse cinema. Now that I’ve been out of grad school for two years, I rarely have the time or the material to explore religious expressions in pop culture. When I entered my PhD program, it was to explore how pop culture represents and explores religious identities. I have two degrees in religious studies and anthropology. ![]()
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