The MassKara Festival (Hiligaynon: Pista sang MassKara, Filipino: Pista ng MassKara) is an annual festival with highlights held every 4th Sunday of October[1][2] in Bacolod, Philippines. The festival sites include the Bacolod Public Plaza, the Lacson Tourism Strip and the Bacolod City Government Center.
The word "Masskara" is a portmanteau, coined by the late artist Ely Santiago from mass (a multitude of people), and the Spanish word cara (face), thus forming MassKara (a multitude of faces). The word is also a pun on maskara, Filipino for "mask" (itself from Spanish máscara), since it is a prominent feature of the festival and is always adorned with smiling faces, giving rise to Bacolod being called the "City of Smiles".[3]
HistoryEdit
The Festival first began in 1980. 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. This was the first MassKara Festival and a time of tragedy; on April 22 of that year, the inter-island vessel MV Don Juan carrying many Negrenses, including those belonging to prominent families in Bacolod City, collided with the tanker Tacloban City and sank in Tablas Strait off Mindoro while en route from Manila to Bacolod, which resulted in 18 lives lost, and 115 missing.
In the midst of these events, the local government then headed by the late Mayor Jose "Digoy" Montalvo appropriated a seed fund and enjoined the city's artistic community, civic and business groups to hold a "festival of smiles", to live up to the City's moniker 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 brought by the Don Juan Tragedy.[4] The initial festival was held during the City's Charter Day celebration on October 19, 1980 and was steered by an organizing committee created by City Hall which was headed by the late councilor Romeo Geocadin and then city tourism officer Evelio Leonardia. It was a declaration by the people of the city that no matter how tough and bad the times were, Bacolod City was going to pull through, survive, and in the end, triumph.
The festival has evolved into one of the major annual tourism attractions of the Philippines over the next four decades. Held in typical Oktoberfest and Mardi Gras fashion, the MassKara Festival served as a catalyst for far-reaching growth and development of the city's tourism, hospitality, culinary, crafts and souvenirs and services sectors. In later years, the Electric Masskara was added as another attraction of the Festival. For several nights leading to the highlight weekend, tribes of MassKara dancers garbed in colorful neon and LED lights on illuminated floats make their way up and down the Lacson Strip, a one kilometer stretch of merrymaking dotted with band stages, souvenir stands, exotic car displays and roadside bars and food set-ups put out by restaurant and hotels along the strip. It is said that beer consumption during the festival is so high that at one time during the first few stagings of the festival, it bled dry the Mandaue brewery of San Miguel Corporation on nearby Cebu island. The company eventually built its Bacolod brewery to serve the city and Negros Island.
The 2019 marks the 40th celebration of the festival, aptly called Ruby Masskara.[5]
Masskara Festival Dancers in Bacolod CityMasskara Festival Bacolod
MasksEdit
The mask motif of the festival has changed from masks influenced by native Filipinos to those influenced by the Carnival of Venice and the Rio Carnival. Earlier masks were hand-painted and adorned with feathers, flowers and native beads, while contemporary masks feature plastic beads and sequins.
EventsEdit
Winners of the MassKara Queen pageant in 2005
The festival features a street dance competition where people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see 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, bugle corps competitions, food festivals, sports events, musical concerts, agriculture-trade fairs, garden shows, and other special events organized every year.
Masskara Festival Bacolod City
Electric MassKaraEdit
Electric MassKara is a parade with music, lights and floats.
Street dancingEdit
The street dance competition is divided into two categories; the school division, and the barangay division, the latter is considered as the highlight of the street dancing competition.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to MassKara Festival.
September 14, 2023
masskara, festival, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, january. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources MassKara Festival news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message The MassKara Festival Hiligaynon Pista sang MassKara Filipino Pista ng MassKara is an annual festival with highlights held every 4th Sunday of October 1 2 in Bacolod Philippines The festival sites include the Bacolod Public Plaza the Lacson Tourism Strip and the Bacolod City Government Center MassKara FestivalObserved byBacolod PhilippinesTypeCulturalDateFourth Sunday in October2022 dateOctober 23 2022 10 23 2023 dateOctober 22 2023 10 22 2024 dateOctober 27 2024 10 27 2025 dateOctober 26 2025 10 26 First timeOctober 19 1980 Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 3 Masks 4 Events 4 1 Electric MassKara 4 2 Street dancing 4 2 1 Grand champions 5 See also 6 ReferencesEtymology EditThe word Masskara is a portmanteau coined by the late artist Ely Santiago from mass a multitude of people and the Spanish word cara face thus forming MassKara a multitude of faces The word is also a pun on maskara Filipino for mask itself from Spanish mascara since it is a prominent feature of the festival and is always adorned with smiling faces giving rise to Bacolod being called the City of Smiles 3 History EditThe Festival first began in 1980 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 This was the first MassKara Festival and a time of tragedy on April 22 of that year the inter island vessel MV Don Juan carrying many Negrenses including those belonging to prominent families in Bacolod City collided with the tanker Tacloban City and sank in Tablas Strait off Mindoro while en route from Manila to Bacolod which resulted in 18 lives lost and 115 missing In the midst of these events the local government then headed by the late Mayor Jose Digoy Montalvo appropriated a seed fund and enjoined the city s artistic community civic and business groups to hold a festival of smiles to live up to the City s moniker 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 brought by the Don Juan Tragedy 4 The initial festival was held during the City s Charter Day celebration on October 19 1980 and was steered by an organizing committee created by City Hall which was headed by the late councilor Romeo Geocadin and then city tourism officer Evelio Leonardia It was a declaration by the people of the city that no matter how tough and bad the times were Bacolod City was going to pull through survive and in the end triumph The festival has evolved into one of the major annual tourism attractions of the Philippines over the next four decades Held in typical Oktoberfest and Mardi Gras fashion the MassKara Festival served as a catalyst for far reaching growth and development of the city s tourism hospitality culinary crafts and souvenirs and services sectors In later years the Electric Masskara was added as another attraction of the Festival For several nights leading to the highlight weekend tribes of MassKara dancers garbed in colorful neon and LED lights on illuminated floats make their way up and down the Lacson Strip a one kilometer stretch of merrymaking dotted with band stages souvenir stands exotic car displays and roadside bars and food set ups put out by restaurant and hotels along the strip It is said that beer consumption during the festival is so high that at one time during the first few stagings of the festival it bled dry the Mandaue brewery of San Miguel Corporation on nearby Cebu island The company eventually built its Bacolod brewery to serve the city and Negros Island The 2019 marks the 40th celebration of the festival aptly called Ruby Masskara 5 nbsp Masskara Festival Dancers in Bacolod City nbsp Masskara Festival BacolodMasks EditThe mask motif of the festival has changed from masks influenced by native Filipinos to those influenced by the Carnival of Venice and the Rio Carnival Earlier masks were hand painted and adorned with feathers flowers and native beads while contemporary masks feature plastic beads and sequins Events Edit nbsp Winners of the MassKara Queen pageant in 2005The festival features a street dance competition where people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see 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 bugle corps competitions food festivals sports events musical concerts agriculture trade fairs garden shows and other special events organized every year nbsp Masskara Festival Bacolod CityElectric MassKara Edit Electric MassKara is a parade with music lights and floats Street dancing Edit The street dance competition is divided into two categories the school division and the barangay division the latter is considered as the highlight of the street dancing competition Grand champions Edit List of Barangay Category grand champions Year Champion 1st Runner up 2nd Runner up 3rd Runner up 4th Runner up 5th Runner up 6th Runner up 7th Runner up 2000 Pahanocoy2001 Pahanocoy2002 Pahanocoy2003 Villamonte2004 Villamonte2005 Villamonte2006 Alijis2007 Alijis2008 Mandalagan2009 Taculing Mandalagan 23 N A N A2010 Mandalagan 17 Alangilan N A N A2011 Banago 17 Tangub 23 Alijis2012 17 Cabug 6 32 Alijis2013 16 Cabug Alijis 22 152014 Granada Villamonte Alijis N A N A2015 Granada Tangub Alangilan N A N A2016 Granada Tangub Banago Pahanocoy Alangilan2017 18 Punta Taytay Mandalagan Tangub Alijis2018 Tangub 18 Villamonte Alijis Mandalagan2019 Estefania Tangub 16 Banago Bata2020 Cancel Due To Covid2021 Cancel Due To Covid2022 Granada Sum ag Estefania 35 Singcang Tangub 31 AlangilanSee also EditBacolod Negros Occidental List of Philippine related topics MassKara Festival Queen Panaad sa Negros Festival Mardi GrasReferences Edit Masskara Festival Schedule of Activities Bacolod Lifestyle October 5 2019 Retrieved October 15 2019 Masskara Festival Schedule Officially Set ExperienceNegros October 5 2019 Retrieved October 30 2019 Cudis Christine October 2 2019 The history behind Bacolod s smile Philippine News Agency Retrieved September 5 2023 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint url status link Don Juan Tragedy Decades Passed and Negrenses Still Mourn April 22 2014 Bacolod Masskara Festival Schedule of Events nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to MassKara Festival Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title MassKara Festival amp oldid 1174068464, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
