Bacolod City: Where in the World is It?

Bacolod City is the capital city of the province of Negros Occidental, also known as the Sugarbowl of the Philippines.

The island where it belongs is in the shape of a sock, as shown in this map.

Bacolod City is accessible from the country's capital, Manila, by air or sea. Its airport is located up north in Silay City about 30 minutes' drive away, while its seaport is located in Bacolod City proper.

Piaya: Bacolod's Edible Currency

Piaya, a round, flat, flaky, unleavened delicacy with brown sugar inside. The crispy almost flavorless outer crust is somewhat like hopia but flattened or puffed up, its inside is a sweet muscovado filling that completes the taste in every bite.

Through the years, piaya has evolved into many flavors and shapes like ube, mango, durian, mini sizes, and other surprising innovations. But I still go for the classic brown sugar recipe, regardless if its flat or puffy. However, due to travel constraints, the flat piayas are more advisable because they take up less space in the pasalubong box.

There are to famous competing piaya makers in Bacolod: Bongbong's and Merci. But there are other less famous but still respectable names in the piaya-making business as nobody makes piaya better than Negrenses themselves, using the country's Sugar Bowl's native produce -- sugar.

Because of the Filipinos' practice of bringing pasalubongs to their loved ones, piayas have become some sort of an edible currency. Round like the shape of money, what could be more pleasing to a friend or loved one than to offer him or her a bag or two of the scrumptious Negrense delicacy?

So never leave Bacolod without our edible currency, the piaya.

Kuwan or Kwan: The All-Around-Anything-You-Want-It-To-Mean Word

Yes, there is such a word. It is a substitute word if you can't remember what to call what-you-call-this. It's just one word, "kuwan" or slurred to "k'wan" (ku-WAN or KWAN).

Sometimes, to break the monotony of the sentence "Ginkwan ni kwan ang kwan ni kwan" (Something was done by someone on the something of someone), another word for kwan is "ano" (a-NO) which means "what".

In Bacolod, there is a famous home of delectable native delicacies named QUAN. So that if you ask your friend where did he get his delicious cassava cake, he will tell you with a mischievous smile, "Sa Quan" (From what-you-call-this).

Kilanlan or Kinahanglan?

In the modern Ilonggo or Hiligaynon dialect, there is a word that is threatening to put to extinction an original word.

The culprit word is "kilanlan" (ki-LAN-lan). It simply does not exist in the original Ilonggo vocabulary, it merely evolved through years and years of misuse especially by the young native Ilonggo speakers themselves.

Can this prove an alleged AIM finding that Ilonggos are poor listeners?

The murdered word is supposed to be "kinahanglan" (ki-na-HANG-lan) which means a must, a need, a necessity. It is also used by Cebuanos, and Warays.

"Kilanlan" on the other hand, is a Tagalog word that means an acknowledgment, recognition or familiarity. So the two words are not related at all.

If the younger generation will keep on using "kilanlan" instead of the right word "kinahanglan", then the latter is in danger of becoming extinct.

MassKara 2009 Schedule of Activities

DATE	EVENT	VENUE
Sept 12	MassKara Makati	Makati, Metro Manila
Oct 1	Opening Program	Bacolod Public Plaza
	Senior Citizen Day	BAYS Center
	Dep. Ed Opening Day	Bacolod Public Plaza
	Festival Sites Opening (Until Oct 19)	Bacolod Public Plaza
Oct 3	Dep Ed Cultural Presentation	BAYS Center
Oct 4	Senior Citizen Cultural Presentation	BAYS Center
Oct 5	Parade and Coronation Night of the Elderly	BAYS Center
Oct 7	Just Dance… G Force Live in Concert	West Negros University
Oct 9	MassKara 2009 Arnis Open Competition	BAYS Center
Oct 10	Night of the Press Club Stars	-
	Ms. Gay MassKara Talent Night	BAYS Center
	Karera sa MassKara ’09 (Motorcycle Drag Race)	Old Bacolod Airport
Oct 11	Ms. Gay MassKara Pageant Night	BAYS Center
Oct 15	Search for Ms. MassKara Queen 2009	-
	IPAO Mid Year Convention sa MassKara	L’Fisher Hotel
Oct 16	MassKara Drag Race Competition	Old Bacolod Airport
	Street Dancing - School Category	Araneta Street to Plaza
	Opening Electric MassKara	Tourism Trip, Lacson Street
Oct 17	Street Dancing - Barangay Category	Araneta Street to Plaza
	Electric MassKara	Tourism Trip, Lacson Street
Oct 18	Street Dancing Open Category	Araneta Street to Plaza
	Electric MassKara	Tourism Trip, Lacson Street
Oct 19	Countdown to Charter Day	New Government Center (NGC) Main Stage with satellite stages in Lacson Street and Araneta Street

MassKara Festival of Bacolod: How It All Began

How did the MassKara Festival began?

It was in 1980 when after the tragic sinking of M/V Don Juan bringing down with it the economy of the province that there was a need to stir away public attention from the negative and rather to focus on the Negrense's resilient nature and the Bacolodnon's ever-smiling face despite the sad scenario.

A group of Bacolod artists, among them the late famous cartoonist Ely Santiago, conceptualized a festival that would showcase this positive Bacolodnon trait. Thus, the Art Association of Bacolod artists came up with the term MassKara for the annual festival to be celebrated on the occasion of the city's charter day, October 19.

The festival name is a pun on the term masskara which means mask wearing a perpetual smile. But the proper way to write it is MassKara because it is actually a conjunction of two words, mass which means the masses, and kara which means face, thus a mass of smiling faces.

The original slogan was coined, "Kari sa Bacolod, dala ka maskara!" (Come to Bacolod, bring a mask!) which means to bring a mask sold by the locals as a souvenir to pump up the tourism economy and not to bring your own mask from wherever you came from.

Being one of the Philippine festivals with no religious background, the MassKara Festival is a celebration of life at its fullest joy. Initially inspired by the Mardi Gras of latin sights and sounds in street dancing and revelry, MassKara has now evolved into its own personality that is uniquely Bacolod.

Outgrowing its original location at the Bacolod Public Plaza which used to be known as the largest beer garden in the world (discouraged because the plaza is situated right in front of the Bacolod Cathedral), the organizers have added a new location at Lacson Street stretching from 6th Street fronting the Provincial Lagoon up to Benigno Aquino Drive. The festivities at this site is called Electric MassKara which started in 2007. The aim is more toward night street partying, thus MassKara dancers parade the lively streets in colorfully lighted costumes.

From being a week-long celebration, the MassKara Festival has been extended to open on the first day of October up to October 20, but the MassKara fever could extend up to the end of the month because Halloween is also a festival requiring masks and costumes.

Talisay City

So-called because of the abundance of the talisay trees a shade tree with large leaves spreading out in tiered branches.

It is about 15 minutes' ride by public transport from Bacolod City, and 5-10 minutes' drive depending on how fast you drive.

It celebrates its Minuluan Festival every September 10 when juicy rambutan and the famous Concepcion lanzones are in season. When the harvest is especially overabundant, the people of Brgy. Concepcion hold a Lanzones Festival where you can eat all the lanzones that you can for only a little over PhP100.