Co-authored by Professor Andrew Chesnut, Dr. Kate Kingsbury*, and Mr. David B. Metcalfe** The season of death is in full swing. October is here impending Halloween with its cavalcade of crones, ghosts and goblins together with the Catholic holy days of All Saints and All Souls, known in Latin America as Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) or Todos Santos on November 1st and 2nd. Included in these fall festivals are two familiar faces whose skeletal visages afford... Read more
Beatification News by Eduardo Lima In a country where people have revered folk religious figures for centuries, Padim Ciço — or Father Cícero Romão Batista (1844-1934) — has been the greatest of all Brazilian folks saints. Every year, 2 million devotees visit Juazeiro do Norte, the city he founded in Ceará state, in order to thank him for a cure or some other miracle granted through his intercession. Over time, practices became ritualized: People go first to the local churches... Read more
Co-authored by Dr. Kate Kingsbury* and Dr. Andrew Chesnut Those who aren’t Catholic or familiar with the largest branch of Christianity might be surprised to learn that unlike Protestantism which offers a single generic Baby Jesus, Catholicism posits myriad advocations of the Christ Child. And Mexico, home to the second largest Catholic population on the planet, is where some of the most unusual representations of the Holy Infant are to be found. In what follows I offer a brief description... Read more
Most street shrines in Mexico are dedicated to a single Catholic or folk saint. Makeshift public altars to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Saint Jude, and Santa Muerte figure among the most popular ones from Tijuana to Tapachula. Having seen hundreds of street shrines in my four decades of doing research, living in, and visiting Mexico, I can’t help but focus on one of the most unusual ones which unites the three most popular “thug saints” in one shrine. In... Read more
There is compelling evidence of continued Catholic decline in Latin American, which is home to 39 percent of the world’s Catholics, during the papacy of Pope Francis, the first pontiff from the region. The religious landscape in Latin America is changing from hegemonically Catholic to a pluralistic one, said Dr. Andrew Chesnut, Professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Latin Americans today have a wide range of options to choose from in the relatively free market of faith, which... Read more
By Guest Contributor Aaman Lamba* In the before times, when we were all free birds and wore our masks on the inside, I used to travel a lot – weekly trips to cities large and small, visiting business clients. I would land at some airport or another, pick up my rental car and drive to my hotel, which was often some distance away. There was typically little memorable about these trips other than the occasional good restaurant or bookstore and... Read more
By Dr. Kate Kingsbury* We are living in a time of much death, or what Mexicans might call mala muerte, bad death. Not only due to the casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic that has beset our world but also, in Mexico and elsewhere, due to the increased precarity created by pandemic conditions. Lockdowns and other such measures have worsened economic conditions, pushing those already living on the knife’s edge further into the parlous peripheries, where death roams in plain sight,... Read more
The season of death is upon us. October is here impending Halloween with its cavalcade of crones, ghosts and goblins together with the Catholic holy days of All Saints and All Souls, known in Latin America as Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) or Todos Santos on November 1st and 2nd. Included in these fall festivals are two familiar faces whose skeletal visages afford them special attention during the season, despite the fact that neither one is historically... Read more
Co-authored by Dr. Kate Kingsbury* and Professor R. Andrew Chesnut Having spent the past decade researching a Mexican folk saint whose name translates as both Holy Death and Saint Death, we have been compelled to grapple with the significance of the near universal desire for euthanasia whose original meaning derives from Greek. ‘Eu’ means ‘good’ and ‘thanatos’ means ‘death’, put together the term means ‘good death’. Euthanasia is thus defined as fast and peaceful death preventing further sufferings. One of... Read more
By Guest Contributor Marvin J. Mijares* Since I can remember, I have heard of people contesting the religious beliefs of Venezuelans, whether it be related to our supernatural apparitions or our demonic possessions. However, religious beliefs are part of our national DNA, such as the cult of Queen María Lionza which dates back 200 years in Venezuela. María Lionza, accompanied by Pedro Camejo (Black Felipe) and Chief Guaicaipuro (an Indigenous Leader) constitute the Three Powers. These figures are the foundation... Read more
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