Masskara Festival of Philippines

The Maskara Festival is an annual celebration held in Bacolod City, Philippines, known for its colorful and elaborate masks worn by participants. This festival is a tribute to the city's rich cultural heritage and serves as a reminder of the community's resilience and unity.

The festival began in the 1980s as a response to a downturn in the local sugar industry, which had a significant impact on the region's economy. The local government saw the need to boost tourism and promote Bacolod City's cultural identity. Thus, the Maskara Festival was born, and it has since become one of the most popular events in the Philippines.

The festival's name comes from the Filipino word "maskara," which means mask. The masks are the centerpiece of the festival, and they come in various shapes, sizes, and colors. They are often adorned with feathers, beads, and other decorations, and some are even motorized or lighted.

The Maskara Festival is a month-long celebration, with various activities and events held throughout the city. The highlight of the festival is the street dance competition, where participants wear their masks and colorful costumes and perform in the streets. The dancers showcase their skills and creativity, accompanied by upbeat music and choreography.

Aside from the street dance competition, there are also other events held during the festival, such as a beauty pageant, food fairs, and art exhibits. Visitors can also explore Bacolod City's historic landmarks and cultural sites, such as the San Sebastian Cathedral and the Negros Museum.

The Maskara Festival is more than just a colorful and festive celebration. It also represents the resilience and unity of the Bacolodnon people. Despite the challenges they faced, they were able to create something beautiful and meaningful, which has become a source of pride and inspiration for their community.

In a time where the world is facing many challenges, the Maskara Festival serves as a reminder of the power of culture, creativity, and unity in overcoming adversity. It is a celebration of life and a testament to the human spirit.

The City of Smiles festival, which is celebrated annually in Bacolod City, has its roots in a terrible sugar industry crisis that Negros Occidental experienced in the 1980s. Since sugar was the main product produced in the area, its price fell when corn syrup was first introduced in the US. An inter-island ship also collided and sank with a tanker at Tacloban City, adding to the sufferings of the Negrenses and taking many of their lives.

In reaction to this tragic event, the municipal administration and a group of local artists decided to plan a festival that would elevate the spirits of the populace and motivate them to move forward.

The street dancing competition is one of the major highlights of the festival. Each participant from different Barangays has its own concept and theme. They are competing for a big cash prize. It needs a lot of preparation, time and money to come up with a creative and unique presentation. You will be stunned seeing their colorful costumes embedded with shining crystals and sequins.Negrenses are very imaginative and inventive, they have created masks that are unprecedented.

The choice of music matters in this competition, but usually they go with the Latin. There is no reason that you cannot swing and dance with this music. I like it.

They are not good dancers, they are great. They move like professional dancers. The steps are consistently beautiful and synchronized.

The celebration won't be enjoyable without food. Bacolod city is known for this delicious Chicken Inasal(Grilled BBQ Chicken). Marinated with seasonings like garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, salt and with lemon grass, makes the chicken smell good.

Manukan Country is a place where you can choose best chicken barbeque. It is a series of carinderias that serve different seafood like oysters and scallops too

Location: Fr. M. Ferrero St.,, Nenas Rose II,

The bachoy is a tasteful soup of pork, pork innards, shrimp and miki with chicharon. This cuisine originated from the city of Ilo-ilo, just an hour away to Bacolod, but Negrenses have come up woth different varieties of Bachoy.

Negrenses are great cook. One dish soup that I would love to try cooking is the Niagang Baboy with kadios.

The Scallop is one of my favorite seafood, It's easy to eat, Its shell is usually use in designing home decors. Also some designers are using it in making masks.

Scallops can be found only in the ocean, not in fresh water. It has two sides of shells. The shells are used also in making ceramics.

"The Piaya is composed of muscovado sugar filled in a flatbread, made by a filling dough with a muscovado sugar and glucose syrup. Recently, there were many varieties of piaya that came out. Some are using ube as their filling. It is baked in a griddle, sprinkled with sesame seeds.

The BongBong's sells different desserts including their best seller "Piaya".

The festival won't be complete without a beauty and brain pageant. The women here are as sweet as sugar and as innocent as a lamp but brave as a lion. These qualities has made these women stand out from others. The mix of Spanish blood makes them attractive.

The festival attire is one the awaited part of the pageant. This show how creative are Negrenses are. Greatest designs are inspired with native products, embellished with feathers, surrounded with fine crystals, dazzling sequins, detailed use of beads and the elegant mask.

Negrenses women are conservative and reserved because of the elder influences, effective in preserving some Filipino character. This is greatly respectable match to some swimsuit designs that almost showing a lot of skin.

This competition is a challenge for all Negrenses designers. Everyone presented various and unusual masks.Very intricate, artistic and dramatic.They elaborated every pattern. The refined designs are very attractive that it catches all eyes.