Estonian death researcher spent three months studying Mexico's attitude to death
Estonian death researcher Karl Käsnapuu described three months in Mexico studying local attitudes to death, including a visit to a Santa Muerte shrine in a dangerous Mexico City district.
Estonian death researcher Karl Käsnapuu told the programme Ringvaade, shown by Estonian public broadcaster ERR, about the three months he spent in Mexico studying local culture and attitudes toward death. There he also visited a Santa Muerte shrine in what he described as the most dangerous district of Mexico City.
According to the researcher, Mexico is the only Western country where death was openly discussed throughout the 20th century, while in Estonia it was a taboo subject. It was in Mexico 18 years ago that his path as a death researcher began, and he realised then that death should be studied academically.
The Santa Muerte shrine in Tepito
Käsnapuu knew about the Santa Muerte cult, a religion centred on the veneration of death. He did not know, however, that the first shrine of this religion stands in Tepito, the most dangerous district of Mexico City. A woman set it up in front of her home. By one account, her son spent a long time in prison and, on his release, gave his mother a large statue of Santa Muerte to thank her for not forgetting him.
People then began to visit the shrine. The researcher said that people ask death for all kinds of things. It is said that Santa Muerte, the goddess of death, is not capricious and can be asked for anything, but something must be offered in return. Stories are told of someone who asked for money and whose mother then died.
Käsnapuu admitted that he too felt fear when he went to the district. Nothing dangerous actually happened, he said, but he felt uneasy the whole time.
Zipolite beach
In Mexico he also visited the so-called beach of the dead, Zipolite, on the coast of Oaxaca state. It has now, almost miraculously, been allowed to operate as a nudist beach. At the same time, undercurrents in the ocean there cause people to drown constantly.
Reflecting on life, the researcher said that suffering is part of human existence: when hard times come and we overcome something, we become more mature people afterwards.
