INAH's museum in Tulum shows Janal Pixán, the Maya feast for the dead, in 20 photographs

Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) is showing a photographic exhibition on Janal Pixán, the Maya celebration of the dead, at its Museo Regional de la Costa Oriental (Mureco) in Tulum, Quintana Roo, until February 28, 2027. Titled “Janal Pixán, tradición que no muere en Quintana Roo” (Janal Pixán, a tradition that does not die in Quintana Roo), it brings together 20 photographs by Miguel González, whose work documents the cultural and natural heritage of Mexico's southeast, INAH said on October 28.

The name is Maya for “food of the souls” or “food for the dead,” according to INAH, and the tradition, deeply rooted in the Yucatán peninsula, is how families remember and honor relatives who have died. INAH says the images come from several years the photographer spent working and living alongside Maya communities in Quintana Roo. For the breads and dishes of the season elsewhere in Mexico, see our Day of the Dead food guide.

From the cornfield to the cemetery

The 20 vertical prints, each 60 by 90 centimeters, are set out along the museum's corridors and paths, each with a label explaining what it shows. They are arranged from dawn to nightfall. The first take visitors to the milpa, the cornfield, and to the forest, where flowers, fruit and other natural elements for the offerings are gathered. Next comes the work in homes: making candles by hand, cooking traditional food and drink, and setting up family altars. The sequence then moves to the altars, prayers, offerings and visits to the cemetery to honor the pixanes, Maya for souls, and closes with night scenes lit by candles.

At the end of the route, museum staff have built an altar inspired by traditional Janal Pixán offerings. Its food and drink, among them balché, relleno negro, pozol, panuchos, tamal torteado, candied squash, regional fruit and pibipollo, a large tamal of corn dough cooked in an underground oven, are represented in inedible materials to protect wildlife. Regional flowers, candles, copal burners, a palm arch and a green cross, which INAH describes as part of Maya religious practice on the peninsula, complete it.

Visiting the Mureco

The museum is inside the Parque del Jaguar in Tulum and opens Tuesday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with free entry, according to INAH. Neither INAH's announcement nor its page for the museum says whether visitors pay to enter the Parque del Jaguar itself. Beyond the exhibition, INAH says the museum covers the history of the Mexican Caribbean from the Late Pleistocene, 40,000 to 10,000 years before our era, to the Maya: their archaeological past, the encounter with European cultures, their resistance and their present.

Tulum is a stop on the Tren Maya, whose website, describing the Tulum station, mentions the Parque del Jaguar and its museum; our Tren Maya report sets out the train's ticket and luggage rules. INAH's Tulum archaeological zone, a separate site, opens from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 3:30 p.m. It charges a unified fee of 265 pesos for foreign visitors and 80 pesos for Mexican nationals, which INAH says includes charges by CONANP, the protected-areas agency, and/or Grupo Mundo Maya.

What the travel advice says

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), whose Mexico advice was last updated on October 20 and was still current on October 31, does not list Quintana Roo among the areas where it advises against all but essential travel. It says: “You must pay an entry tax to visit the state of Quintana Roo – you can pay the entry tax online before or during your stay.” It adds: “You must show proof of payment at the airport before leaving.” It also advises: “Be very cautious after dark in downtown areas of Cancun, Tulum and Playa del Carmen. Stay in well-lit pedestrian streets and tourist zones.”