Tags: Cottage Industries, Handicrafts
By Anna Valmero
BACOLOD CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL— The country’s City of Smiles is known as home of the world-famous Masskara Festival where street dancers don ornately designed masks and colorful costumes.
To complement the year-round influx of tourists, the city government has urged locals to set up business start-ups to capitalize on the Masskara Festival from October 1 to 19, said Michael Vincent Mabaquiao, project development officer of the Bacolod City Cooperative and Livelihood Development Office.
“In case you wanted to take home a piece of this city, make sure to bring along with you one of our colorful masks,” Mabaquiao said.
For starters, the MassKara is named after two words: “mass,” which means “many” and “kara,” a Spanish word for “face,” thus the meaning a multitude of smiling faces of Bacolod locals who are offering thanks for a bountiful harvest.
The history of the festival is an interesting one. It started 31 years ago, the time when the city was enveloped by a series of tragedies and economic depression.
The period of the 1980s was the time when the world market price of sugar – the main and only agricultural export of the Negrenses and Bacolodnons – was at an all-time low, said Mabaquiao.
On April 1980, the passenger vessel M/V Don Juan sank and from the tragedy, 700 Negrenses died.
To get the locals out of gloomy state of things, the local government and city groups decided to hold a festival. The Masskara festival is meant to serve as a reminder that no matter how tough times are, Bacolod City and the Negros will survive.
To make the mood more festive, they decided that the week-long street parade to feature dancers wearing colorful masks filled with smiles. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The wearable masks are made from paper mache (at 250 pesos each) or fiber glass (350 pesos), while the wall mounts and desk stands are crafted from terra cotta and fiber glass.
Compared to the hand-painted masks made of paper and fiber glass by Jojo Denora’s J Exclusive shop, the terra cotta masks (450 pesos each) features the natural color of red clay and the designs are sculpted bit by bit so it is also more expensive.
Bacolod’s booth in this year’s One Town, One Product (OTOP) National Expo also featured hand-painted t-shirts (250 pesos and above) by Rudean Lagulao and key chains (40 pesos each) by Nathaniel Alob. The booth sells the products at producer’s price to improve sales and promote it, said Mabaquiao.
“I think smiling and remaining optimistic after troubling times is a unique trait of Bacolodnons and in essence of every Filipino and so taking a Masskara mask home with you is a reminder that we are a happy people,” Mabaquiao said.
If you want to check out the products of Bacolod, visit the One Town, One Product at Megatrade Halls 1 and 2 at SM Megamall ongoing until September 25.
Get more information about Bacolod City Cooperative and Livelihood Development Office.
Related stories:
Bacolod entrepreneur taps out-of-school youth to create paper products
Where to get good coffee in Bacolod
When in Bacolod, indulge in the crunchy ‘piaya’ from Bailon’s
Calea in Bacolod offers sumptuous yet affordable desserts
Advertising Agribusiness Agriculture Airline Industry Aquaculture Automobiles Banking Car Accessories consumer elec Consumer Electronics Consumer Goods and Concerns Cooperatives Cottage Industries Death Entrepreneurship Filipinos Abroad Food Establishments Groceries and Shopping Centers Handicraft Handicrafts hardware Hardware Solutions Horticulture Internet Livelihood Programs Malls Mass Media and Communications Mobile Phone Industry OFWs Outsourcing Real Estate Software Solutions technology Technology Industry teleco Telecommunications Tourism Transportation Vermiculture Wholesale and Retail
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
