Grim reaper gets some flesh in Mexico City

Death just isn't what it used to be, the Associated Press reports.

The Death Saint, once represented by a skeletal grim reaper, has been given a makeover by devotees in Mexico. It's now embodied by a beatific woman in a flowing gold dress.

The group that worships in the Santa Muerte sanctuary in the rough Tepito neighborhood of Mexico City has denied that the new image is related to its struggle for government recognition.

David Romo, the Traditional Mex-USA Church's archbishop, told the Associated Press that the new incarnation of the saint appeared to a woman in a dream in December. The apparition reportedly instructed the dreamer to ask Romo to commission a new statue.

A new documentary on the cult, "La Santa Muerte," written, produced and directed by Eva Aridjis, was shown at the L.A. Film Festival recently.

Posted by Geoffrey Mohan in Los Angeles