Death in the UK – An English Santa Muerte Devotee Honors His Grandfather

By guest contributor Wesley Gerrard*

Death is the only guarantee we have – even birth isn’t guaranteed. Death comes to everything – to every rock, to every tree, to every monkey, to every cow, to every human, to every atom, to every nucleus, to every quark to every photon. It is what binds everything together. A child can die in the womb before it is born; so death can come even before existence. 

I first discovered ‘Santa Muerte’ or ‘Holy Death’ whilst watching the hit TV Series ‘Breaking Bad’. I love studying all things Latin American and also learning about religions so it seemed only natural to do further research on Santa Muerte. This led me to Dr. Andrew Chesnut’s book, Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint, which especially for an anglophone audience is the par excellence guide to Santa Muerte. 

I like the aspect of it being a hybrid religion, incorporating Catholic beliefs, brought to Mexico by the Spanish Conquistadors, and also incorporating traditional Indigenous beliefs. I’ve seen the Moctezuma Exhibit at the British Museum in London, complete with his blue ornamental human sacrifice beating-heart bowl, and the Aztecs fascinate me. I also find that the Mayan Popul Vuh is an excellent religious text. I know Santa Muerte has suffered a lot of bad press from the Catholic Church claiming it to be heretical and also oppression by the Mexican Government, especially by closing down and destroying Santa Muerte temples in the border areas that migrants  cross frequently into the United States of America. 

That Santa Muerte is a religion for the marginalised and oppressed in society appeals to me. In essence this is similar to Jesus Christ’s message of Christianity – he embraced the poor, socialised with criminals and prostitutes and resisted the authorities. The gold and pomp of The Vatican and Church dogma today are so alien to the message that Christ clearly teaches in the Bible. I find in this sense that Santa Muerte is consistent and complements any existing Christian beliefs. It is undoubtedly one of the fastest growing religions in the world today. 

I decided to try it out and I commissioned a local artist here in Wales, Norris Nuvo, to do a painting and make me an altar. He produced the colourful Santa Muerte ‘sith’ you see below and the heavy oak Santa Muerte altar (with skull and candle holder). I imported a little Santa Muerte statue from Mexico on ebay. I got involved in the Santa Muerte social media groups and started leaving the odd prayer to Santísima and leaving devotions upon the altar and burning incense and lighting candles. 

She (Santísima) does resemble a dark character in the U.K. we call the ‘Grim Reaper’ and I was a bit worried about messing around with bad spirits. At one stage early on I threw the Santa Muerte statue in the trash can because I thought it had hexed me. We made up though. Pretty soon my friends were getting used to it and learning about it and leaving their own offerings on the altar and asking La Niña Blanca (The White Girl) for favours and blessings. It’s not commonly known at all in the United Kingdom and I’ve only met the odd person online here who actually practises the religion in any serious way.

I find Santa Muerte to actually work as a religion and is indeed holy. It is also compatible with other religious beliefs. I regard myself as a curandero / shaman already after sacred Ayahuasca /  Yagé self-initiation about 15 years ago. So I am already on the same hymn sheet as Indigenous Latino religious habits. I added a Jesus Malverde statue to the altar, also a Virgen de Guadalupe, a Niño de Atocha and a Saint Jude, but it’s Santísima’s home and she’s the boss in my home. I don’t find the practice of the religion to be dark or morbid in any way and would argue that it is in fact very enlightening and I regularly leave offerings for deceased relatives and friends. 

I suppose in Mexico with the tradition of el Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), this is a societal norm. Often in my society Death is really avoided in discussion or contemplation – even at funerals people are in a rush to get to the wake and get drunk to forget about the reality of death.

I was very close to my grandfather (GaGa) who died at the age of 91 in 2015. Indeed today (26.05.2023) would have been his 100^th birthday #centuryofgaga – Earlier this week I noticed one of Andrew’s social media posts. It was about a British Royal Air Force plane – an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, being painted with a beautiful image of Santa Muerte. I spoke to him about it and told him about my grandfather – His name was William Gordon Gerrard (26.05.1923-14.02.2015) and he was a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force during World War 2, seeing much enemy action and having a distinguished career as a pilot, fighting a struggle for us all. Andrew asked me if I would write an article for his website. 

The use of Santa Muerte on a fighter jet is very appropriate. In World War 2 the use of military aviation was a very disruptive new technology – it caused devastation and changed the face of warfare. Not only could it cause much death and destruction of military and civilian targets, but also, it was very dangerous and the mortality rate for pilots, in the RAF, was higher than in any other military field. Indeed, in my Grandad’s 618 Squadron, one of the more successful and elite RAF squadrons, only about 20% of pilots survived the war.

There is a  certain amount of irony in the use of the Santa Muerte image on the modern F-15 fighter jet that is based at RAF Lakenheath in England. I am attempting to arrange a visit to the Santa Muerte plane and to learn more about its story. I think that it would be a fitting tribute to my dead grandfather and a noble way of continuing his legacy.  Today I will be celebrating a century since his birth and like I have done for many years now I will be leaving some offerings on my Santa Muerte altar for him. Who knows? Perhaps I will share a Guinness with la Flaquita (The Skinny Lady) as I remember those departed from this Earth. I am sure that Gaga is somewhere out there watching down on me from high in the surly bonds of heaven. 

MY HOLY MOTHER, for I trust in You, please help us to remember those loved ones who have perished and please help those who suffer the dangers of war, its victims and also those brave soldiers who fight battles so that we can all maintain a healthy life. Thank you, White Sister. So it will be. Amen.

* Wesley Gerrard lives in Wales where he is a DJ, translator, foreign language teacher, and works cybersecurity. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and check him out here and here .