Janal Pixán Festival at Grand Costa Maya: A Colorful Tribute to Tradition

The festival is designed to preserve local culture and share traditions with tourists.

The vibrant colors, enticing smells, rich flavors, and poignant music of the Day of the Faithful Departed recently came alive at the Grand Costa Maya. This was part of the inaugural Janal Pixán Festival 2024, held in Mahahual. The festival attracted over 20 local businesses, including restaurants, hotels, bars, ice cream shops, and civic associations. These businesses paid tribute to the departed and helped boost tourism in this coastal region of the Mexican Caribbean.

Miguel Ángel Sánchez Mijangos, president of the festival's organizing committee, said the event aimed to keep traditions alive and enable both the community and tourists to connect with Mexico's cultural richness. He emphasized the importance of preserving local culture and how the festival brings together people of different nationalities who live in or visit Mahahual.

The Janal Pixán 2024 festival featured traditional altars set up in participating businesses, each with a unique touch. Some businesses opted for the style of central Mexico, while others paid tribute to the typical offerings of the southeast. There were also altars with cultural fusions, contributed by Venezuelan, American, and Argentinian residents, who added unique elements to the celebration.

The festival also included the Xibalbá Caravan on the boardwalk. This featured children in golf carts dressed as spirits, bringing life to the procession with their colorful costumes and music. The caravan was a tribute to loved ones who have passed on, including community founders, relatives, friends, and even cherished customers. Sánchez Mijangos said the Xibalbá Caravan served as both a visual attraction and a space for reflection and celebration of life and death, enriching the community.

Among the attendees at the inaugural Janal Pixán Festival 2024 in Mahahual was María Hadad Castillo, Undersecretary of Human Rights of the Quintana Roo Government Secretariat. She expressed her support for this initiative, which promotes cultural inclusion and coexistence in a safe environment.