This is, in fact, our first rodeo

By Lisa - January 04, 2026

Last night was New Years Eve. We went to bed early and missed it, except for the sounds of firecrackers at nightlight.

A lot of Mexican towns are dedicated to saints. Tizimín is dedicated to los tres reyes magos (the Three Kings) so January 6th (Three Kings Day) is a big deal here. They build a big bull ring out of sticks, palm leaves, vines, and 2x4s and prop a ceiba tree up in the middle of it (symbolizes something, but nobody near me seemed to know what). Saturday night, they run the bulls through the streets like a tiny Pamplona to the plaza and corral them for the next day. Sunday morning, a procession carries a glass and gold case with statues of Melchior, Caspar, and Bathazar to the plaza and they hold a huge Mass. Sunday afternoon, it's bull fight time!

If you have Facebook, these reels are worth viewing:

Raising the bull ring

Setting up the ceiba tree in the plaza de toros

The vibe and a shot of the construction (note the ladder/stairs)

James did NOT want to go to the bull fight. We were reassured by a lady at Mass that they just "play" with the bulls, not kill them.

The queen of the fair.

Mary was there, too.

Los magos.

I'd describe the three-story construction as "The Globe Theater meets Gilligan's Island."

Breakfast of champions. We went to a fancy restaurant in the main square on Saturday night, and then ended up going to the same place the next morning (New Years Day) because it was the only place we could find that was open. Here's James' breakfast of champions. Good heavens. Yes, those are marshmallows and a Kit-Kat.

And Joseph's:

Actual food to supplement his milkshake intake:

After breakfast, we could hear a band marching nearer, so we waited until it came past us and then followed the crowd to see where it was going. It ended up at a house were we were welcomed into the backyard where they had an altar to the Three Kings set up and chairs and tables. They started up the Rosary and this was going to be followed by food and traditional dancing. We stayed for about 45 minutes, but the Rosary is really long and Tom suddenly remembered we were supposed to have checked out of the hotel an hour earlier. Oops.

Little dancer waiting for her cue. (She reminded me of this painting.)

I couldn't find any video of the traditional dancing. I suspect it was the normal Yucatan folk dancing. Somewhere else in town, though, people were dancing with turkeys. The turkeys are remarkably chill about it.

After we checked out of the hotel, we went back to the plaza. A woman at Mass had told us the bullfights started at 3 p.m. It was actually 4:30, but this worked out well because we got front row seats. Unbelievable, completely non-OSHA-compliant, second-story, perched-on-a-folding-chair-in-the-sketchiest-edifice-imaginable front row seats.

Horses, horses, horses:

Full disclosure: James had reason to be concerned. No, no bulls were killed, but "playing" with the bulls included those two orange stabby things the guy on the left is holding below. The "trick" was to get close enough to jab them into the bull's shoulders, where they would stick and dangle as the bull ran around, drawing some blood. It didn't seem to bother the bulls overmuch, but it wasn't very nice and James found it upsetting.