[jordigh]

"Día de los muertos" sounds so weird to me, like we're talking about a particular group of dead people (say, the dead from a war) instead of the dead in general. I would say "día de muertos" and most Mexicans in Mexico agree. It's obviously a back-translation from the English which requires the article.

I also wonder when did the face-painting tradition start. The first time I saw it was in 2005 at a Halloween party. I thought it was awfully clever and recognised it as inspired by Posada's catrinas.

The popularity of Día de Muertos in Mexico is kind of strange. Most Mexicans did not observe most of the traditions that have now become popular. It was a very regional thing from Michoacán. Talking to other Mexicans, it seems that during the late 20th century, the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) started putting Día de Muertos and other regional Mexican traditions into the curriculum, which made knowledge of the holiday spread. It would be as if Mardi Gras became a national holiday of the US and became an icon of US identity worldwide.

And then we have the James Bond Day of the Dead parade from a movie that we thought was so cool that we decided to do it for real.

It's an odd thing to see traditions getting established during my lifetime.

[jstimpfle]

I'd first heard of it by playing Grim Fandango in around 2000. (Bought it a few years ago on Steam to play again, and it still gives me goosebumps).

[lentil_soup]

I don't doubt it's known as "Dia de Muertos" over there, but technically "Dia de los Muertos" is also correct in Spanish. It's the day of the group of people that are dead.

Just like you would say "Dia de las Madres", "Dia de los Niños", no?

[jordigh]

I always heard "día de muertos". The first time I heard "día de los muertos", I thought it was some kind of protest over some massacre. We have many prominent groups of dead people in Mexico. :-(

[javiercp]

Yes, as a Spanish speaker (from Spain) if I didn't know that it is called "Día de Muertos" in Mexico it would sound strange to me.

[ASalazarMX]

> "Día de los muertos" sounds so weird to me, like we're talking about a particular group of dead people (say, the dead from a war) instead of the dead in general. I would say "día de muertos" and most Mexicans in Mexico agree.

I'm sure all Mexicans would agree. Saying "día de los muertos" sounds like calling July 4th "day of the independence". Maybe it's a literal translation from "day of the dead", since "dead day" sounds like something else.