BACOLOD CITY TRAVEL GUIDE

The Masskara Festival Colorful Masskara Festival Masskara Festival San Sebastian Cathedral

Bacolod City The City of Smiles Bacolod, chartered city in the central Philippines, on Negros Island, capital of Negros Occidental Province. Sugar milling and fishing are the chief industries in the city, which is also a trade center in an area producing sugarcane and rice. Bacolod City is known as the the "City of Smiles". The Bacolod, as they are called, are proud of their culture as being strong willed with a warm heart. Bacolod also boasts of antique houses, old churches that dates back during the Spanish time, and other cultural sites. Bacolod's biggest annual event, the Maskara Festival, is a Mardi Gras-like celebration that features masked and costumed street dancers, with fairs and carnivals. This is held on the third week of October, and coincides with the city's Charter Day celebration. Bacolod’s most popular fiesta, is celebrated on the third weekend of October closest to October 19, the city’s charter day anniversary. Festivities kick off with food fairs, mask-making contests, brass band competitions, beauty and talent pageants, a windsurfing regatta, drinking and eating contests, trade fairs and exhibits. The climax is a mardi-gras parade where revellers don elaborate mask and costumes and dance to Latin rhythms Rio de Janiero style. San Sebastian Cathedral, Bacolod, is made of coral stones and lime quarried from nearby Guimaras Island. The Chapel of Santa Clara ha a unique mural mosaic of the Virgin Mary, made up of 95,000 polished shells. The Chapel of Cartwheels, in Manapla, was constructed using old carabao cartwheels.

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