MassKara Festival Reviews

A yearly celebration on the third weekend of each October, the MassKara is Bacolod's most popular fiesta. It has represented the Philippines in several festivities throughout Asia. The English word "mass" (many) and the Spanish word "Kara" (face) are combined to represent the many masks that the dancers wear. The masks are usually smiling. After all, Bacolod is the "City of Smiles".

It is a three day event full of music, food, drinking and dancing. The plaza is lined with tents of souvenirs for sale and Kiosks of beer and Inasal (bbq) of pork and/or chicken.

The fiesta starts out with a beauty pageant, every fiesta has one. There are three days of street dancing competition where the contestants are elaborately dressed in colorful costumes to match their colorful masks. Day one is the "Schools Category". Day two is the Barangay (village) Category". Day three is "Open Category". Giant speakers along the dance path get everyone into the festive mood.

It's a really cool experience that should not be missed if you are in Bacolod at that time or a neighboring island.

So, as they say in Ilongo (local dialect) . . .
Kari na sa Bacolod, magdala sang maskara, kag magsinadya kita! (Come to Bacolod, bring your masks, and we’ll have some fun!)

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Masskara Festival

On the weekend nearest to the 19th of October each year, the city of Bacolod in the province of Negros Occidental goes joyfully crazy with the MassKara Festival. First conceived in 1980 to add color and gaiety to the city’s celebration of its Charter Day anniversary, the festival has become the biggest annual tourism event not only of Bacolod, but of the entire province as well.

MassKara is a coined term from two words: MASS, meaning multitude of people or a crowd, and KARA, from the Spanish word for face, cara. Thus the term has a triple meaning: “many faces,” “mask” and “face of the masses” – meanings that best describe the 9-day celebration. During the festival, there are “many faces” who travel near and far to come to the city wearing be-dimpled, grinning and laughing “masks”, that show the real “face of the masses” which is happiness.

The symbol of the festival a ‘smiling face’ mask was adopted by the organizers to dramatize the Negrenses happy spirit despite periodic economic downturns in the sugar industry. The happy grins on the masks underscore the people celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans, USA and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The beaming faces molded in clay or papier-mache are the order of the day at the highlight of the festival, the MassKara parade where masked visitors join Bacolodnons from all walks of life, clad in colorful costumes, as they gyrate to the intoxicating rhythms of samba, disco, and Latin-American music while parading down the main thoroughfares of the city in a stunning display of stamina and coordination. The colorful pageantry is equaled in intensity by everyone's joining in the revelry with such abandon, fun and camaraderie as the sound of the MassKara music fills the air enticing everyone to join the fiesta mood of the festival.

Every sector of the society is represented in the MassKara Festival: civic associations, commercial establishments, schools, and even private and government organizations. They march out in enthusiastic throngs wearing their painted masks and elaborate costumes, all vying for prizes in judging that will be held in the afternoon of the parade day.

Throughout the week, people from all over the Visayas and beyond, flock to the city plaza as they join Bacolodnons in the non-stop round of festivities that also feature sports competitions, cultural programs, carnivals, trade fair, concerts, the MassKara Queen beauty pageant, highlighted by a street dance parade and merrymaking.

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Masskara Festival - one of best events in the Philippines!

Philippine Fiesta: The MassKara Festival

MassKara Festival is one of the most popular festival in the Philippines. This is the world renowned special event that Bacolod "The City of Smiles", in the Province of Negros Occidental is celebrating. MassKara festival is a Mardi Gras like celebration that masked and costumed street dancers, with fairs and carnivals. MassKara Festival is celebrated in the third weekend of October that is close to October 19.

MassKara Festival is a week long celebration that kick off with mask-making contest, food fairs, brass band competitions, beauty and talent pageants, a windsurfing regatta, drinking and eating contests, trade fairs and exhibits. The highlight of the festivities is the Mardi-gras parade that the street dancers dance in the streets with beautiful design mask and colorful costumes in the Latin rhythms Rio de Janiero style.

MassKara–a fusion of two words–the English word mass meaning “many” or “a multitude” and the Spanish workd kara which in English means “face”. MassKara is also mascarâ, the dialect for the English word mask. MassKara thus means a multitude of smiling faces. Smiling colorful masks set on headdresses of every imaginative design and color are worn by hundreds of dancers costumed in an explosion of hues as they stomp, pulsate and gyrate along the major streets of Bacolod every third weekend of October. MassKara Festival is the biggest annual tourism event in the province that coincides with Bacolod City's Charter Day celebration.

Sige Lang… Sige Na! Bacolod, Batò Kita! This is the theme of the Masskara festival which reflects optimism of the Bacolodnons- that no matter how tough and bad the times were, Bacolod City is going to pull through, survive, and in the end, triumph.

The festival first began in 1980 during a period of crisis. In the midst of the tragic events, the city's artists, local government and civic groups decided to hold a festival of smiles, because the city is 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. More important, the festival dramatizes the Negrenses’ fortitude and unsinkable spirit.

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The Masskara Festival: A Tribute to Happiness

What is the Masskara Festival?

Ever heard of a weeklong festivity that gives local and foreign visitors the chance of a lifetime to drink and be merry for twenty days? Nothing beats the Masskara Festival of Bacolod City. Call it a combination of the Mardi Gras and the Oktoberfest where you will find a huge parade and a lot of drinking. The Masskara Festival is a hip escape from the insanity of the world into colorful days of outrageous partying.

Bacolod City is well known all for its Masskara Festival during the month of October. The Masskara Festival is hosted by Bacolod City during the first two weeks of October. A horde of visitors, both local and foreign, enjoys twenty days of beer drinking, dining, and street dancing at the Masskara Festival. Talk about serious Filipino partying.

The Masskara Festival was originally instituted to commemorate the hardships of the people of Negros Province. The original idea behind the Masskara Festival was to promote a time of happiness to a down trodden people.

Masskara Festival has gone a long way since its humble beginnings and is now able to generate revenues for big businesses due to tourism. It has taken its festive spirit through a path that leads to progress for the locals of Bacolod City.

The term Masskara is coined from two words — mass, meaning a crowd and the Spanish cara, the word for face. Masskara has a double meaning, first is “mask” and the second one is “many faces”. Cultural artist, painter, and cartoonist Ely Santiago coined the term in 1980.

The symbol of the Masskara Festival is a smiling mask, which was envisioned to show that the people Negros Province manifests a happy spirit in spite of all the crisis they have gone through.

Throughout the two weeks of the Masskara Festival, the people from other neighboring provinces flock to Bacolod City for the celebrations. Everyone joins in on the round the clock feasts. Colorful and lively parades abound in people wearing masks and costumes representing various organizations from the government and private groups.

If you’re not the into the hype of street dancing why not try the pig catching event which is a sure hit among the locals during the Masskara Festival. A host of other competitions are also held which includes a mask making contest and a disco king and queen competition.

Throughout the two weeks of the Masskara Festival, people strut around in brightly colored costumes vying for the prize to be awarded to the one who makes the best mask outfit. The Masskara Festival boosts Bacolod City’s tourism not only because of the huge flock of visitors it attracts but also for the orchids and handicrafts that are sold on sale during festivities.

The Masskara Festival is a symbol of the Filipino spirit that remembers to be happy in spite of tough times. No wonder Filipinos are called the people of happy smiling faces.

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So let's enjoy and be happy! Witness Bacolod's Masskara festival this October!

The Masskara Festival through the years gives the people of Negros, as well as local and foreign visitors, a chance to drink and be merry for 20 days. Originally designed to show the hardships of the people of Negros, the Masskara Festival has become a tool of escapism and a way to generate revenues for big business. It has indeed come a long way, and it is clear that the path turn away from the progressive goal.

Bacolod City is known for the popular Masskara Festival which takes place here Oct. 1-20. Local and foreign visitors get a chance to enjoy 20 days of merry making, beer drinking, dining and street dancing. On the weekend nearest to 19 October, the biggest party in Bacalod is scheduled to take place. Bacalod is the capital city of the country's sugar-producing province of Bocalenos.

The term Masskara is created from two words: mass, meaning crowd, and the Spanish word cara, for face; thus the double meaning for "mask" and "many faces". It was coined by Ely Santiago, a painter, cartoonist, and cultural artist, who devoted show in his art works the many faces of Negrenses overwhelmed with various crises.

The Masskara festival was first envisioned in 1980 to add color and jollity to the Bcolod City's celebration of its Charter Day anniversary, on 19 October. The symbol of the festival - a smiling mask - was adopted by the organizers to dramatize the Negrenses happy spirit, in spite of periodic economic downturns in the sugar industry.

Throughout the week, people from all over the Visayas, gather to the town plaza. They join Bacoleños in the non-stop round of festivities. Even if you don't feel like dancing and singing, the pig catching and pole climbing competitions are musts. Some are also trying their luck and testing their skills in mask-making contests, disco king and queen competitions, coconut-milk drinking to name a few.

Masks are the order of the day at the Masskara parade, as brightly-costumed men and women dance and strut in the streets. Their beaming faces are be-dimpled, smiling and laughing in molded clay or papier-mâché. Every group is represented: civic associations, commercial establishments, schools, even private and government organizations. They march out in excited crowd wearing their painted masks and elaborate costumes, all vying for prizes in judging that will be held in the afternoon. The festival also benefits Bacolod tourism not only because tourists flock the city during this time to join the merrymaking but also to buy the orchids and ornate handicrafts on sale.

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Come one, come all at the Masskara Festival at Bacolod City, Philippines!

MassKara Festival

The MassKara Festival is a week-long 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 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 carrying 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.

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 musical 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.

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Masskara festival in Bacolod City makes Bacolod one of the best places in Negros Occidental.