Doña Sebastiana — The Skeleton in the Cart
Doña Sebastiana is a folk figure from New Mexican Hispano culture, depicted as a skeleton riding a wooden cart or chariot, carrying a bow and arrow. She is the northern New Mexican variant of the Grim Reaper, brought by Spanish colonists and merged with Indigenous death imagery. Unlike the anonymous European Death, Doña Sebastiana has a name and personality — she is said to be vengeful toward sinners but merciful to the faithful. Her image appears in the santero tradition of New Mexican folk art, particularly in the bultos (wooden carvings) of the penitentes. In some stories, she is the same f