This year marks the 44th anniversary of Bacolod’s MassKara Festival, a vibrant and artistic celebration that lasts for three weeks, making it one of the world’s longest festivals.
This is an excerpt from Lifestyle Asia’s December 2023/January 2024 Issue.
The MassKara Festival is an annual festival in Bacolod, the “City of Smiles!” The word “Masskara” is a portmanteau coined by artist Ely Santiago from mass (a multitude of people) and the Spanish word cara or face. The word MassKara (a multitude of faces) is also a pun on maskara, Filipino for “mask”, a prominent feature of the festival.
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LIBERATING CREATIVITY
The first MassKara Festival started in 1980, a year of tragedy. Negros relied on sugar cane as its primary agricultural crop and theprice of sugar was at an all-time low due to the introduction of sugar substitutes like high fructose corn syrup from the USA.
The inter-island vessel MV Don Juan carrying many Negrenses collided with a tanker Tacloban City and sank off Mindoro which resulted in many Bacolodnon lives lost that same year. In the midst of these events, the local government then headed by Mayor Jose Montalvo appropriated a fund and enjoined the city’s artistic community and business groups to hold a “festival of smiles” to live up to being the “City of Smiles.”
A NEW TRADITION
The festival, similar to Brazil’s Carnival, has evolved into one of the major annual tourism attractions of the Philippines over the next four decades. The Masskarade Ball was one of the most anticipated activities during this festival which was chaired this year by Jojie Dingcong.
The Sugarland Hotel Ballroom had Manileños join Bacolodnons in celebrating this year’s MassKara Festival. The charity ball raised funds for five students representing five sectors of Bacolod namely PWD or Persons with Disabilities, Youth, Women, OFW or Overseas Filipino Workers, and the Transportation sector.
Read more by purchasing a copy of the Lifestyle Asia December 2023/January 2024 magazine via SariSari.shopping or select newsstands in National Bookstore and Fully Booked. Subscribe to the E-Magazine via Readly, Magzter, and Press Reader.
Photos by Daniel Tan.
