Masskara Festival On The Go

My friend and I are planning to go to Bacolod City this October 17-19 to join in the celebration of the Masskara Festival. Since this will be my first time to attend the said celebration, I felt that it's just but fitting to know more about the festival because as of the moment all I know about it is that it is celebrated in Bacolod City during October and that Masskara literally means Mask in english and the city is called the city of smiles...Besides all of that - zilch, zero, no more...Hehehe

So far, here's what I have came up:

The word Masskara actually has a double meaning. It is a combination of the word "Mass" meaning 'many' or 'the people' and "Kara", the Spanish word for 'face'. Masskara then literally means 'Mass of faces' of which they made these faces smiling to synchronize with the city's popular name as the 'City of Smiles'. For the Ilongos, the local dialect, 'maskara' also means 'mask' which gave rise to the use of giant colorful masks during the festival which dancers use during the street dances of the festival.

The festival is now celebrating its 28th anniversary since its first celebration on 1981.

The festival welcomes thousands of tourists every year as local Bacolenos and Bacolodnons treats guests with friendly locals, delectable treats and delicacies, beautiful sceneries and enjoyable hang outs throughout the city....

Wow that was a blast!! Makes me excited even more...

By the way, the celebration is not only on the 18th and 19th which features the highlights of the festival but the city actually is celebrating from October 1st until the 19th of October