Governor Joaquín Díaz Mena inaugurated the Gran Muestra Estatal de Altares in Mérida's Plaza Grande, featuring over 70 offerings honoring Maya traditions of Janal Pixan. The event aims to preserve cultural identity and draws thousands of visitors. It included demonstrations of prehispanic practices like Pok Ta Pok.
The Gran Muestra Estatal de Altares began on October 29 in Mérida's Plaza Grande, Yucatán, with contributions from municipalities, state agencies, educational institutions, and civil associations installing over 70 offerings. Governor Joaquín Díaz Mena, joined by DIF Yucatán's honorary president Wendy Méndez Naal, performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
In his speech, the governor stated: “Here we see the most valuable part of our Maya culture, and in this Government of the Maya Renaissance, we promote and foster our traditions so they endure over time. Welcome everyone, enjoy the altars we will visit shortly, but above all, the interpretation each municipality gives to the worldview and the way the Maya people remember their ancestors”.
Fabiola Loeza Novelo, director of the Institute for Maya Cultural Development (Indemaya), described Janal Pixan as “an act of memory, identity, and cultural resistance, as it represents deep love for ancestors and the light that guides the deceased on their return journey home”. Patricia Martín Briceño, secretary of Culture and the Arts (Sedeculta), highlighted the government's commitment to preserving these traditions.
Following the inauguration, a Pok Ta Pok demonstration took place near the flagpole. The president of the Association of Indigenous and Traditional Games and Sports of Yucatán presented the governor with a commemorative medal from the XXVI National Encounter. Players including Giovanni Manuel Hernández Zapata, Óscar Emiliano Chi Chan, and Ángel Bek Chi gifted a signed conch shell as a symbol of unity.
The governor toured the altars, accompanied by Mérida's mayor Cecilia Patrón Laviada and other officials such as Erika Beatriz Torres López and Wilmer Manuel Monforte Marfil.