The Mexican Santa Muerte from Tepito to Tultitlán: tradition, innovation, and syncretism at Enriqueta Vargas' temple

Abstract

Specialists in new religious phenomena and of Mexican history are acquainted with the fast growth of the folk devotion for la Santa Muerte, who is mostly worshipped by the marginal classes of Mexican society. Devotees show disillusionment both with governmental and Catholic institutions that have in turn stigmatised the saint of death. In Tepito, an old Mexico City neighbourhood, the first public altar appeared in October 2001 and its warden, Enriqueta Romero (b. 1945), always refused any kind of institutionalization, while elsewhere there have been attempts to establish rules, associations, and hierarchies. Correspondingly, la Santa is represented and venerated with significant differences from place to place, notwithstanding shared beliefs and iconographic traits. Among such attempts at establishing rules was the foundation of the Templo de la Santa Muerte Internacional in Tultitlán (State of Mexico) by Jonathan Legaria Vargas (1982–2008), also known as Comandante Pantera. The official inauguration took place on 27 January 2008. At the moment of writing, the Temple is run by Jonathan Legaria Vargas’ mother, Enriqueta Vargas Ortiz (1959–2018), who took up her religious role as Madrina (Godmother) after her son’s death: Jonathan was shot dead in his car, under mysterious circumstances, on 31 July 2008. This chapter reconstructs the specific traits and differences of the devotion as it is expressed at Tepito and at Tultitlán and considers change in the movements through these examples.