The MassKara Festival (Hiligaynon: Pista sang MassKara, Filipino: Pista ng MassKara) is an annual festival with highlights held every 3rd Sunday of October in Bacolod, Philippines. The festival sites include the Bacolod Public Plaza, the Lacson Tourism Strip and the Bacolod City Government Center.
Etymology 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".
History 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. 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. The MassKara Festival served as a catalyst for the 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.
Events
The festival features a street dance competition where various groups of street dancers (with contingents representing different schools and barangays) parade through the streets before performing on a stage. Major activities include the MassKara Queen (renamed to Miss Bacolod MassKara since 2022) beauty pageant, carnivals, drum, bugle corps competitions, food festivals, sports events, musical concerts, agriculture-trade fairs, garden shows, and other special events 67 every year.
Electric MassKara Electric MassKara is a parade with music, lights and floats.
Year Champion 1st Runner-up 2nd Runner-up 2008 Villamonte 33 Singcang 2009 33 TBA TBA 2010 Pahanocoy
Street dancing 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 List of Barangay Category And Electric MassKara Winners: Year Champion 1st Runner-up 2nd Runner-up 3rd Runner-up 4th Runner-up 5th Runner-up 6th Runner-up 7th Runner-up 1999 Estefania 2000 Pahanocoy 2001 Pahanocoy 2002 Pahanocoy 2003 Villamonte 2004 Villamonte 2005 Villamonte 2006 Alijis 2007 Alijis 23 28 2008 Mandalagan Villamonte 23 N/A N/A 2009 Taculing Mandalagan 23 N/A N/A 2010 Mandalagan 17 Alangilan N/A N/A 2011 Banago 17 Tangub 23 Alijis 2012 17 Cabug 6 32 Alijis 2013 16 Cabug Alijis 22 15 2014 Granada Villamonte Alijis 23 Tangub 2015 Granada Tangub Alangilan N/A N/A 2016 Granada Tangub Banago Pahanocoy Alangilan 2017 18 Punta Taytay Mandalagan Tangub Alijis 2018 Tangub 18 Villamonte Alijis Mandalagan 2019 Estefania Tangub 16 Banago Bata 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2022 Granada Sum-ag Estefania 35 Singcang Tangub 31 Alangilan 2023 Granada Tangub Sum-ag Handumanan Mansilingan 2024 Granada Bata 12 35 18 Electric Masskara Float Parade Champion Barangay 292025TangubBata29
See also Bacolod Negros Occidental List of Philippine-related topics MassKara Festival Queen Panaad sa Negros Festival Mardi Gras
References
External links