Día de Muertos (or Day of the Dead) is a time when families gather to honor and remember deceased loved ones. It is believed that, in that day, the souls of the dead return to visit their living families.

Day of the Dead originated several thousand years ago with the Aztec, Toltec, and other Nahua people, for whom death was a natural phase in life, and mourning the dead was considered disrespectful: it was believed that tears would make the spirit's path treacherous and slippery. Today it takes place on November 1 and 2—All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on the Catholic calendar—The festivities unfold over two days in an explosion of color and joy, around the time of the fall maize harvest, and the arrival of the monarch butterfly.