Tizimín Kicks Off Convite 2026 With Jarana Dancing and Ten Home Visits Ahead of Feria de Reyes

Tizimín, Yucatán — Under rows of papel picado, the first pairs of jaraneros raised their arms and marked the steps in front of a crowd gathered in the center of Tizimín on Sunday morning, opening Convite 2026 — the celebration with which the city announces its festivities honoring the Three Kings.

Dozens of dancers from the folkloric ballets of the diputados de feria kept arriving through the first hour of activities. Near the Municipal Palace, couples formed up to dance for families seated along the edges of the plaza. Among the embroidered outfits, white hats and colorful scarves, the banners identifying each contingent stood out.

Children and teenagers took part in the opening, some carrying the banners at the front of their groups while other couples walked arm in arm across the plaza. In one of the first performances, the dancers lifted their hats to the audience as the papel picado hung over the space where the jarana played.

The invitation behind the procession

The Convite takes its name from the invitation that gives the procession its purpose: the delegation visits the homes of the diputados de feria, who receive the participants with food and music alongside their families.

At each stop, hosts are asked to give their consent for the January celebrations. This year, ten visits are planned along a route of more than nine kilometers through different parts of the city.

One of the route’s rest stops is the Placita de Toros, which was prepared in recent days after the merchants who had used it as a provisional market returned to the rehabilitated Municipal Market. With the temporary stalls removed, the small bullring has recovered its place on the celebration’s itinerary.

For Tizimín, the January fair begins to take shape during these November visits, as families open their homes to the delegation and folkloric groups carry the jarana from one point of the city to another.

At Sunday’s opening, that continuity was visible in the plaza, with children at the head of the contingents and several generations dancing under the same papel picado.