Masskara Festival : Invasions of Smiles

The Philippines is home to some of the world’s most vibrant festivals. It is a nation that celebrates fiestas all year round. Every 3^rd week of October, Bacolod City becomes the country’s epicenter of maddening parties as it celebrates the annual Masskara Festival. Its exhilarating vibe and dazzling spectacle draw people of all ages and races in one huge live stage.

Listed as one of the Philippines’ major cultural festivals, Masskara has been running for the past 34 years. It came about as the Negrenses’ way of momentarily forgetting all the troubles brought by the dwindling of the sugar industry. Resilient to its economic oddities, Bacolod rose to the challenge and masked its desolation with happy faces.

Rightful to its description as multitude of smiling faces, this festival imbibes exultant feelings. Their use of the smiling mask as a dramatic device pimps the intensity of fun its visitors are about to experience. While masks have been used in antiquity by all nations in the world, Bacolod’s interpretations of it are just outrageously beautiful. From a blank fiberglass canvass, its visual patterns are meticulously handcrafted with beads, sequins, tassels and feathers to come up with one masterpiece.

2014 is themed as “One Rhythm. One Bacolod. A Million Smiles”. Beyond being known for its affluent families, sugar cane haciendas and chicken barbeque, this elite city has taken much economic conveniences comparable to other metropolis in the country. It invites the world to see and revel how much they have progressed and what else this City of Smiles has to offer.