As the sun sets on November 2nd in the quiet borough of San Andrés Mixquic, the local cemetery begins to glow. Hundreds of candles flicker to life. Marigold petals form glowing pathways. The air is thick with the scent of copal incense and tamales. But this is no ordinary cemetery visit — this is a sleepover with the dead.

In the deserts of northern Mexico, beneath the sun-baked skies of Sonora and Sinaloa, an ancient spirit runs free—not through forests or fields, but through dance. La Danza del Venado, or The Deer Dance, is one of the most mesmerizing Indigenous rituals still performed today. It’s part theater, part prayer, and entirely sacred.