MassKara MassKara

MassKara derives from ‘mass’ meaning crowd and ‘kara’ meaning face, playing on the word ‘maskara’ meaning mask in Tagalog. MassKara is a festival held in Bacolod every October, in which people don brightly colored and elaborate smiling masks and costumes to bring joy to the area and celebrate the resilience of the Filipino people during a time of crisis.

In 1974, the Laurel-Langley Pact wasn’t renewed by the U.S. government which assured an annual sugar export quota for the Philippines with producers compensated immensely. By expiry, the U.S. sugar imports went from 1.2 million tons per year to 330,000 tons a year later. .1 European countries started producing sugar from sugar beets soon after and caused the global price of sugar to lessen. Alongside this, the chief of the National Sugar Trading Corporation, Roberto Benedicto, hoarded sugar until it was essentially worthless because he believed sugar would rise to a dollar a pound. This put the Negros region into a horrible famine. With the famine going on and the tragic MV Don Juan ferry accident, killing everyone including important people from Bacolod, morale was at its lowest.

Locals began creating these colorful masks to help bring in commerce, and it became a hit with tourists visiting the area, leading to the festival’s creation. To lift the spirits of the loca who were still hurting from everything going on, MassKara turned into an event of joy and celebration. The well-known smiling masks becoming a symbol of perseverance, that through all the pain the Filipino people will survive through the toughest of conditions. Now it is a celebration filled with dancing, loud and exciting music such as Latin beats and Philippine Jazz, elaborate smiling masks, competitions, beauty pageants, garden shows, and much more. 2 For over thirty years now, MassKara has brought in people from all over to participate in the festival and to soak in the joyous occasion.

https://www.esquiremag.ph/ long-reads/features/negros-famine-of-the-1980s-a0028920210415-lfrm2.

2. Legarde, Lysias. “Masskara Festival: The Ultimate Guide.” HICAPS Mktg. Corp. HICAPS Mktg. Corp., September 12, 2022. https://hicaps.com.ph/masskara-festival/.

3. Santos, Matikas. “Unmasking the Masskara: The Hidden Origin of Bacolod City’s Festival.” Interaksyon. Philistar, July 9, 2018. https://interaksyon.philstar.com/breaking-news/2018/07/09/130223/unmasking-the-hidden-origin-of-bacolod-citys-masskara-festival/.