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Splendid Bacolod and its Weddings
By Michelle de Guzman
26 September 2008
To find out more about what
the weddings of a place are like, sometimes one should look
at the place itself – its past, people, and culture.
For example, what do people
know about Bacolod? The home of Mass Kara Festival? It’s
not as if people go around wearing masks during their wedding
ceremonies.
So instead, let’s
go back a little bit in time, just to know more about the
place called the City of Smiles.
Negros Occidental is also
widely known for the hacienderos, the ones of Ilonggo elite
descent, and the Spaniards and French who flocked to the place
due to the collapse of the textile industry in the 19th century.
Thus, the sugar industry was born and sustained.
With the opening of the
Suez Canal, Bacolod was flooded with European fineries and
artworks, and images of Baroque churches and sprawling mansions.
Such splendor is evident in downtown San Sebastian Church
as well as in the ancestral homes of the Locsins, Lizareses,
Aranetas, Gastons and Lacsons.
The appreciation for details
is also apparent in art pieces such as the mural mosaic of
a native Madonna in tapis, carrying the Child Jesus with a
rosary—all these were done in capiz-shell squares of
different sizes.
Some heritage structures
of this fascinating p0lace are Aniceto Lacson House featured
in films like Lino Brocka’s “Gumising Ka, Maruja”
and Negrense Peque Gallaga’s “Oro Plata Mata”;
and the Lizares Mansion in Talisay, with its Moorish window
patterns, an angel of molave retrieved from the family cemetery,
Placido Mapa's desk, and early drawings by National Artist
Arturo Luz.
Silay City, on the other
hand, is home to the Romanesque Church of San Diego and its
silver dome and big clock.
With these snapshots of
Negros Occidental, it is easy to imagine how intimate and
elaborate, or joyous and alive (with numerous relatives and
some politicians and alta sociedad thrown in) Bacolod weddings
are.
We can imagine the dancing
(after all Visayan folk dancing covers everything from worship
dances to courtship and wedding dances—mostly mimetic
dances of a flight of birds, catching fish, making wine, etc.).
And we can imagine the way
they courted back then, a tradition passed on by ancestors
from the Ilocos Province. “Tapat” is courtship
through poetry and song, when a young man serenades a lady,
and the lady answers in a song of how long a courtship he
has in front of him. Then the man replies with a more passionate
song and the replies continue until an “understanding”
is made.
Lastly, we can imagine the
place—Bacolod in all its splendor and charm. The people
who live here in sugarland, with their sing-song accent, gracious
hospitality and refined, strong-willed personalities truly
set it apart. There is the smell of chicken inasal (which
probably won’t go missing in any family get-together
or wedding rehearsals); and the lure of golf, water sports,
mountain biking to the adventurous.
Bacolod City is heritage,
culture, and nature all rolled into one. Easily accessible,
interesting and affordable, it is definitely a splendid option
for an out-of-town wedding destination.
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Kasal.com
thanks the following sources for this article:
“Bacolod City Profile.”
Retrieved September 4, 2008 from
http://www.bacolodcity.gov.ph/profilei.htm
Tejero, Constantino. “Bacolod, the bountiful.”
Retrieved September 4, 2008 from
http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20070325-56772
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