ghostlybearddelusion-blog

[ghostlybearddelusion-blog]

CITY OF SMILES

If we heard the place Bacolod, the thing that pops up in our mind is the Maskara Festival. The annual Maskara Festival held in Bacolod City every October is a celebration which has earned for Bacolod the title “City of Smiles” It is in Negros Occidental and it was born 25 years ago at a time of crisis, when sugar prices were crashing. In effect, the festival was a declaration of the people that no matter how tough and bad times are, Bacolod is going to pull through, survive and in the end, succeed.

My mother is from Negros Occidental. When I was still a kid, I thought that my mother had a great and unforgettable childhood because she can join and showcase the Maskara Festival in their province. But I was wrong. She is living in Negros Occidental but not in Bacolod City. She is from Escalante City. So she told me that back when they were still little kids, they really want to watch the different performances in Maskara Festival. But they were not able to do what they want because aside from they are not in Bacolod City, it is also far from their “baryo” and the transportation fee is way too expensive! Then I was quiet sad because I can imagine myself not able to watch a main festival even once in my life. I am so curious how far is my mother’s town to the “bayan” where the Maskara Festival is held. I can still remember that it was summer vacation year 2014; when I and my family travelled and visited the place where my mom grew, Negros Occidental. When we already got to my lola’s house, I was very annoyed because they barely speak in Filipino, instead they are speaking in Ilonggo (their dialect) which I cannot understand. It is my first day there but I really want to go home already because it seems like I am alienated. But that alienated feeling is the one that motivated me to go around, walk, observe and discover new things that I do not see in Manila.

While walking in my lola’s backyard, I saw a girl wearing a white v-neck shirt and a cycling shorts. I bet she is just as young as me that time. She smiled at me, approached me and told me that we are cousins. She is having a hard time to communicate with me because she is not fluent in speaking Filipino but I can sense that she is trying her best so that we can understand each other. We even used gestures and sign language as if we were mute and deaf. She offered to come with me and be my tour guide. We went to their so called “tambayan” where they spend their whole day there after fishing. There is a small tree house. She invited me to go up there and even warned me to have a tight grip on the rope because I might fall. I realized that I should not be annoyed just because they do not adjust on my language hence I should be the one to adjust because I am the one who is new in their  place. I admit that I was rude to them at first but I should thank her because she accompanied me. We are inside the tree house and out of nowhere, I asked her if she already attended the Maskara Festival because it is the only main celebration in Negros that I know when I am still a kid. She replied that she cannot go to the “bayan” because instead wasting her time there, she will just swim and go under water to seek for different shells and make it as necklace and bracelet and sell it to the tourists as a souvenir.

After staying for thirty minutes in the tree house, we went to the seashore where sells her hand made accessories. But as I observe the surrounding, there are a lot of trashes floating on the water. I was just confused because it is so contradicting that the fresh air that I inhaled up in the tree house is the opposite in here, the seashore. There are leftover foods on the sand and plastic on the sea. I am sad because the fresh environment that they have is gradually ruined by human.

Somehow, I realized that Escalante City has also their own places that they should be proud and taken care of. Yes, Bacolod City has Maskara Festival but at the end of the day, noticed that the people in Escalante is the real treasure in their town for they are humble, hospitable and kind. The mask that they are really into is covering their own places. Escalante is a very nice place as well as the people living there.

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