Santa Muerte: Saint Death. Her titles are myriad:Lady Sebastienne, Lady of the Shadows, Lady of the Night, Lady of the Seven Powers, White Girl, Skinny Lady, Our Lady of the Holy Death. To her, you make offerings of cigarettes.
The Catholic/Indigenous crossbred cult with its skull-topped figurehead was born in the worst Mexican prisons, and is reportedly the fastest-growing religious sect in the world. It has been repudiated by the Vatican and by local Catholic bishops as well.
Its rise parallels the increase of cartel-related violence and the accelerating militarization of police forces in Mexico. The stakes for your weekend weed have never been higher, and as it becomes more dangerous to play the supply and demand game, the players are increasingly looking to the afterlife, suddenly much closer than it has ever been.
Outpost Culture has done a five-minute video that gives you some of the flavour of both the sect and its adherents in the prisons, gangs, cartels and the streets of Mexico.
When you live with death, you might as well make friends with her.
Well, tell us what you think!