Day of the Dead, or Dia de Los Muertos, is a celebration that honors the dead. Many of the traditions honoring the holiday come from Latin America, but these days, those who celebrate don't have to leave the United States to mark the holiday.

Like many Mexican Americans, visual artist Ruben Esquivel didn’t grow up with the Day of the Dead.  The fifth-generation Austinite, raised off Springdale Road, has vague memories of his first encounters with the holiday during his childhood in the 1990s and early 2000s.

If you can’t spend Day of the Dead in Mexico, Los Angeles is where you want to be. The City of Angels has the largest Dia de los Muertos celebrations outside Mexico, with events at the Olvera Street Festival running now through November 2, and at places like LA Plaza de Cultra y Artes, which last week hosted a glamorous “chef’s table for the dead.”