The institutionalization of the cult of Santa Muerte. The case of the Traditional Catholic Church (TCC)

Abstract

The Mexico-United States Traditional Catholic Church, founded in 2000, has sought to legitimize the cult of Santa Muerte by inserting into the Mexican Catholic tradition and putting the heterodox Santa Muerte at its center. He managed to obtain the registration as a religious association before Secretaria de Gobernacion in 2003, losing it two years later. Nestled in one of the most precarious colonies in Mexico City and very little studied, this church was a mixture of Catholicism, Cuban santeria and shamanic beliefs. The multiple scandals in which it has been involved, especially the arrest and conviction of its founder makes this institution in crisis. This article is directed to the ethnographic reconstruction of the history and practices of this church, based on the author’s field work converted in 2018, still ongoing. The investigation reveals the avatars of a popular cult that tries to install in the symbolic and legal matrix of a society that considers marginal and criminogenic.