It's October once again and Bacolod City is busy with festival preparations. I see streamers of companies fighting for visual domination in the streets. I hear Masskara Queen bets in the malls. I observe photographers spending thousands of pesos on photo accesories. What's with all this hype? Surely, the Mardi Gras of the Philippines isn't all that exciting. I would love to describe the celebration in my own words but I'm too busy cleaning the lenses of my lowly camera (If only I had kickass photography equipment which cost an arm, a leg, and a finger) so I'll let our favorite free online encyclopedia do the talking.

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 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.

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.

With the current financial crisis going global, at least we Negrenses have something to smile at for the moment. Power Rangers eat your heart out.

Reference:

Wikipedia. "Masskara Festival" Link

Photo Credits

bacolodmasskarafestival.com, Anton Sheker, photo.net.ph

Announcement:

The Camera Club of Negros (CCN) invites all photographers who are coming to the Masskara Festival 2008 to a Glamour Photo Shoot with BAM (Bacolod Association of Models) talents and Masskara Queen. Location will be at the Mambukal Mountain Resort on 18 October 2008 (Saturday Morning). Limited slots are available. For details e-mail ccnegros@yahoo.com