The MassKara Festival is a festival held each year in Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental province in the Philippines every third weekend of October nearest October 19, the city's Charter Inauguration Anniversary.
History
The festival first began in 1980 during a period of crisis. The province relied on sugar cane as its primary agricultural crop, and the price of sugar was at an all-time low due to the introduction of sugar substitutes like high fructose corn syrup in the United States. It was also a time of tragedy; on April 22 of that year, the inter-island vessel Don Juan carries many Negrenses, including those belonging to prominent families in Bacolod City, collided with the tanker Tacloban City and sank. An estimated 700 lives were lost in the tragedy.
In the midst of these tragic events, the city's artists, local government and civic groups decided to hold a festival of smiles, because the city at that time was also known as the City of Smiles. They reasoned that a festival was also a good opportunity to pull the residents out of the pervasive gloomy atmosphere. The initial festival was therefore, a declaration by the people of the city that no matter how tough and bad the times were, Bacolod City is going to pull through, survive, and in the end, triumph.
Etymology
The word "MassKara" is a portmanteau, coined by the late artist Ely Santiago from the word "mass" meaning "many or a multitude of the people", and the Spanish word cara meaning "face". A prominent feature of the festival is the mask worn by participants; these are always adorned with smiling faces. MassKara thus means a multitude of smiling faces. The word is also a put on maskara, the Filipino term for "mask".
Features
The festival features a street dance competition where people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see colorfully-masked dancers gyrating to the rhythm of Latin music beats in a display of mastery, gaiety, coordination and stamina. Major activities include the MassKara Queen beauty pageant, carnivals, drum and bugle corps competitions, food festivals, sports events, musical concerts, agriculture-trade fairs, garden shows, and other special events organized ad-hoc every year.
Accommodations
Here is the list of some hotels and inns that can be found in the province where tourist can enjoy and stay overnight when touring the province of Negros Occidental. Enjoy your vacation and happy trip!
- L’ Fisher Hotel
14 th Lacson Sts., Bacolod City
- Hotel Pagcor Bacolod
Goldenfield Complex, Bacolod City
- Business Inn Hotel
28 th South Lacson St. , Bacolod City
- Luxur Place
Magsaysay Ave. , Lacson Ext., St., Bacolod City
- Circle Inn
Lopez Jaena-Malaspina Sts.,
- Tamera Plaza Inn
#79 Lacson St . , Bacolod City
Accessibility
By air
The city of Bacolod is only 55 minutes from and to Manila, serviced by the country's 3 major airlines - Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Air Philippines, with four round trip flights daily.
From Cebu City, Bacolod is only 30 minutes away, with 3 round trips daily through Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific.
The New Bacolod-Silay Airport of International Standard is 20 minutes to and from the Bacolod downtown.
By sea
Bacolod is normally a 20-hour cruise to and from Manila aboard world-class vessels; 55 minutes to and from Iloilo on fast sea crafts. The Banago and BREDCO ports are the vessels’ entry point.
By sea and land
The 18-hour travel time to and from Manila via land and sea transport is now possible through RORO (Roll On Roll Off) vessels traversing through the Strong Republic Nautical Highway using the ports of Iloilo, Caticlan in Aklan, Roxas in Mindoro and Batangas in the Province of Batangas.