New year is always a big event all over the world. In the Philippines, it’s always a feast.
Fireworks, sparklers and firecrackers are a must!
Box of a hundred Lusis / Luces
Fireworks
My 5 year old nephew
My Dad’s birthday happens to be on December 31, so aside from the usual Media Noche feast, we also have some of our favorite foods:
Chicharong Bulaklak
Kare Kare
Crispy Pata
Pansit Palabok
Lengua
Ham - staple Christmas and New Year food
Tuna Sashimi
And sweets for desert:
Leche Flan from Contis
Chocolates
Of course, there were fruits, wine, loaf of bread and other yummy food. My mom usually prepares the best buko salad but she did not make it this year, but it’s ok. The important this is that the family welcomed the New Year together!
How did you celebrate your new year?
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
The City of Smiles, Bacolod, celebrated its Foundation day with a huge (and I mean huge) parade of marching and lyre bands. Locals and tourists flocked the streets to see and be part of the opening ceremonies of the week-long festivities.
We were in awe. The festival exceeded our expectations. Personally, it’s my first time to watch a festival/parade as big as this. It was very colorful and very lively. This was Bacolod’s annual celebration of the Masskara Festival.
We were almost not able to get inside the competition venue because there were no available gate passes anymore as early as a week before. This was due to the number visitors that wanted to see the very famous Masskara Festival. But with a little charm, we were able to get the best seats in town! We got a space to squeeze our butts in at the front row, just below the stage, together with the media/photographers. The downside was that we only had an O2 camera phone and a video cam. We were able to get cool footage, but low-resolution photographs.
The annual street dance competition closes the month-long celebration and week-long festivities.
I’ve seen a hundred photos of the Masskara Festival before. But nothing compared to seeing the parade/dance live. It’s an awesome experience. The dance steps were well choreographed, the costumes were elaborate, with grand production design complete with props and moving set, and of course, colorful confetti!
Taken from an old write up. I was in Bacolod City on October 18-21, 2006 for the Masskara Festival.
Related Posts:
ABS CBN’s Mask Making Contest, Bacolod City
Bacolod 27th Masskara Festival – Street Dance Competition Photos Part 1
Bacolod 27TH Masskara Festival – Street Dance Competition Photos part 2
It’s a tradition long been held. And more and more organizations and institutions have been participating in ABS CBN’s Mask Making Contest in Bacolod. There were giant masks, and normal sized masks with gigantic designs.
This one's huge!
We had a side trip to Boracay, via Ilo-Ilo. On the way back, we missed the last trip of the ferry from Ilo-ilo to Bacolod. The next ferry trip was in the next morning at 5AM. We were silently panicking — we had no idea how to get back to Bacolod before our 6AM flight to Manila the following day. Everyone was telling us we could just spend the night at a motel because there were no more ferry trips at night. A security guard in the pier told us that there were still 8PM RORO trips at the province of Dumangas. I texted my friend from Bacolod and she warned us to be careful because the province is known for aswangs. I didn’t know what to feel when she advised us to bring garlic and not to eat anything from there, especially meat. I wanted to regard it as an advise not to be taken seriously — but we were really new to the place. We didn’t know anyone and everyone else spoke in Ilonggo. We hired a taxi for P550 (gosh!) and waited at the port area for two hours. We were back in Bacolod by midnight. Thank God! :)
We were relieved to get back to Bacolod safely after our trip the previous night passing dark roads with tall grass, amidst aswang stories.
Thank you so much Jellie, Sol, and Lola Caro (of Caro Pharmacy) for providing us the spacious, cozy room.
AFP-Antonio Chavez for giving us a good spot at the Maskara Street Dance Competition 2006 venue.
*sorry for the quality of the photos.
Related Posts:
ABS CBN’s Mask Making Competition, Bacolod City
Bacolod 27th Masskara Festival – Street Dance Competition Photos Part 1
Bacolod 27th Masskara Festival – Street Dance Competition Photos part 2
