In Mexico, monarch butterflies are cherished as symbols of many things. In some places in Mexico they're believed to be the spirits of loved ones and during Día de los Muertos  they return each year to the Oyamel fir forests of Michoacán which is believed to mark the homecoming of these ancestral souls. They're also seen as sacred messengers a bridge between the worlds of the living and the dead. As a symbol of metamorphosis carrying meanings of renewal and life’s ongoing cycle.