"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.
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?
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. :-(
> "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.
Mexican here. Not everybody does the whole enchilada as it is portraited in the movies.
On this day, my dad used to got to the cemetery to visit his parents. Clean the tomb and leave some flowers. But now that he is gone and I don't leave near him any more we are starting a tradition to make an altar with some photographs just to remember them and make sure that the members of the family understand that we didn't come from nothing, there is a family history and people that left a mark on what we are today. I think it is a beautiful tradition, not as fun as Halloween but it has deeper meaning. At least to us.
I am 55 and we did celebrate Día de Muertos back in the 60's. Then we would bring flowers for our deceased, and outside (and inside) the cemetery it would be a lively scene with basically the whole town there doing the same, vendors of flor cempasúchil, sugar skulls, little calaveras (skeletons), etc. it's been an event my whole life, and something my parents celebrated, it's not new.
I have to mention that it precedes "Día de todos los santos" so it's (or was) a two-day celebration. First remember the dead, then celebrate they've gone to heaven.
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.