BACOLOD CITY FEBRUARY CELEBRATIONS!

IT WILL BE A GRAND CELEBRAtion of love between the Chinese and Filipino communities in Bacolod City when they celebrate this year’s BacoLaodiat Festival.

That is because this year’s Chinese New Year falls on Valentine’s Day.

BacoLaodiat comes from the words Bacolod and Laodiat, the latter being the Chinese word that means “to celebrate,” says Leonito “Diotay” Lopue, this year’s chair of the festival.

Since 2010 is the year of the tiger, this year’s BacoLaodiat theme is “Leap of courage with renewed vitality.”

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia started the BacoLaodiat annual celebration five years ago, and its main purpose is “the assimilation of the Chinese with their Filipino brothers and sisters, and bringing the Chinese culture to a better understanding,” according to Lopue.

This year, the festival to be celebrated from Feb. 12 to 14, would feature Chinese national ethnic costumes that were specially ordered from China, says Lopue.

BacoLaodiat organizers want the festival to be known for its lantern dance parade and symphony of lights and sparks. In this parade, lanterns will flow, sway and make formations in the night.

They want its Chopstick Alley to be located at the North Capitol Road during the three-day festivities.

The Chopstick Alley is where Chinese food and delicacies will be available to the public. Chinese medicines, books, feng shui products, and other products will also be on sale in this area.

The festival this year will also have two giant tigers on a float made from fine bamboo with a red lighted heart. The tiger costumes will be donned by two “trisikad (bicycle for hire)” drivers.

The 12 zodiac animal floats will be placed inside the Capitol Lagoon Park in Bacolod for the BacoLaodiat.

Lanterns

Also to be put up are a tent full of lighted lanterns, a room full of tigers plus a life-sized one that people could ride on and have their photos taken with, and a wall where tiger products of different companies would be presented, Lopue adds.

On Feb. 12, leaders and members of Negros Occidental’s Filipino-Chinese community will start the festival with a grand parade along the city’s major thoroughfares, complete with dancing dragons and lions, the floats of the 12 Electric Zodiac Animal floats, national ethnic dresses that include emperors’ outfits, and Chinese school students in their national costumes.

Chinese and Filipino folk dances would be presented and a medley of Filipino and Chinese songs would be sang by a chorale, he said. This would be followed by fireworks and band music.

On Feb. 13, the lantern dance parade will be held at the festival’s main stage at the North Capitol Road and down to Lacson Street’s Tourist Strip to end at the 21st Street.

This will also be capped by fireworks and live band music.

On Feb. 14, there will be a GMA Kapuso show, the awarding of prizes to the lantern dance parade winners and fireworks.

The festival will also have side shows of performers on “kadangs” or stilts, fire dancers and Chinese lanterns.