The History of Masskara Festival of Bacolod City
With the coming of the month of October, one of the most awaited events in the City of Smiles that is Bacolod City is the infamous and very festive celebration of the Masskara Festival. Little did the people know that behind the smiling faces of the masks that has become the icon of Masskara Festival is a history of crisis that was turned into a challenging experience to hope for a better life for the people of Bacolod City and the Province of Negros Occidental.
The history of the Masskara Festival dates back during the 1980’s when the whole province of Negros Occidental suffered the effects the sudden slump of the price of sugar in the international market. Many Negrense were left jobless and workers in the sugarcane plantations suffered and got hungry as the whole province primarily relied on its main product of sugar. April of that same year, the inter-island ship Don Juan sank and many Negrense died and more families were left pined for the loss.
The local artist then of Bacolod City, together with the local public officials and all stakeholders came up with the holding of a festival to efface the sad and gloomy atmosphere that the city and the province was thrust into. Then came the birth of Masskara Festival that signaled the declaration of the people of Bacolod City and Negros Occidental of their willingness to rise up from the rubbles of economic downturn to survive and end up victorious.
Masskara comes from two words: “mass” which means a multitude of people and “kara” which is a Spanish word for face.
Wearing masks full of smiles and all the colors to signify the undying spirit of the people of Negros and Bacolod City, once again the celebration of the Masskara Festival this October invites all people from the whole of the Philippines and from other parts of the world to join the celebration of life and triumph.
Kari na sa Bacolod para sa Masskara!
Photo Credit: Bacolod Masskara Festival
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 5:19 pm, filed under Bacolod, Destinations, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.