Butterfly on Purple Aster

by Rebecca Cuningham

This was the last monarch we saw in our garden this year. They are flying south to Mexico now, to make their date for the Día de los Muertos, 2 November. Day of the Dead is similar to All Saints’ Day, a Christian holiday honoring those who have passed on. However, parts of Día de los Muertos predate Native Peoples of the Americas contact with Europeans. In a three thousand year old tradition, over five million people from indigenous civilizations of Mexico continue these annual observances; the Maya, Mixteca and more. The Mixteca believe that the souls of their ancestors return to spend time with their descendants at the beginning of November each year. In beautiful synchronicity, that’s represented by the monarchs’ return from their northward migration. The orange and black butterflies flitting home are received as the spirits of their progenitors.

Monarch on Aster Photo: R. Cuningham

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This post is part of Cee’s flower of the day.

¡Olé! –Rebecca

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Purple Aster with Monarch Photo: R. Cuningham
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Rebecca Cuningham

52 thoughts on “Butterfly on Purple Aster”

  2. This is beautiful! I’d read how they’ve been associated with souls, but never saw it like this during Día de Muertos. Thanks for sharing. recently learned the last born of the Monarchs have a longer life span, they are those who migrate. Also, their Chrysalises are amazing! Butterflies have been somewhat my totem animal lately. It’s not normal how many butterflies were around me, landing on me, dancing around my head as my Dad was dying and afterwards. They really are tiny-winged miracles.

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  3. Felicitaciones a Rebecca por el éxito de tu blog. El Día de los Muertos es tan fascinante. Y vincular esta honrosa observancia, tan bellamente con el vuelo de la mariposa Monarca… la última de este año volando a México… es genial!! 🦋

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  11. This made me realize that I haven’t seen a monarch butterfly this year! I’ve seen very few since the power company sprayed poison and killed all our wild butterfly weed a few years ago. (Still makes me sooooo angry! Like that butterfly weed was ever going to grow so high it would interfere with the power line!!) On the brighter side, it also reminds me of one autumn while I was a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC and masses of monarchs migrated right through the campus on their way to Mexico! It was absolutely amazing to see. Boone’s official altitude is 3,333 feet, so I still marvel at the strength and determination it took for those butterflies to make it over the Blue Ridge Mountains! Thank you for triggering that happy memory for me this afternoon!

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  14. Lovely photo, Rebecca, and how special that it was your last monarch sighting. They are headed my way! Fascinating little creatures. 🦋 A beautiful connection between the monarch migration and the Mixteca tradition. Thank you for sharing that. It will make their sighting even more special.

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