The word Bacolaodiat was derived from the words Bacolod and Lao diat which is a Fookien word for Sinadya (Ilonggo) meaning, big celebration. The Bacolaodiat Festival began only four years ago with the aim developing good Filipino-Chinese relationship and of course to improve tourism in the city. It was started by the Chinese community in Bacolod and it showed a lot about Chinese culture and history.


Source: http://www.bacolodboard.com/bacoloadiat-festival.php

The term Masskara is derived from two words: Mass which means "crowd", and Cara which means "face", which also doubles as a term for mask. It was coined by the late Ely Santiago, a painter, cartoonist, and cultural artist, who devoted show in his art works the many faces of Negrenses overwhelmed with various crises.

A smiling mask, which is the symbol of the fiesta, was conceived by the organizers to show the happy spirit of the Negrenses despite experiencing bad times in the sugar industry.(Source: Wikipedia.org)