Panaad Sa Negros

This week there is a festival going on in Bacolod, Panaad Sa Negros (Promise of Negros). The festival is an anual event that usually is held in April but since this May 10th there is the Presidential Election, they moved the festival to March. It started in 1993 in front of the Province Capital building in Bacolod City and since been moved to Panaad Park where the 13 cities and 19 towns participating have permanent booths designed to show off what their home is famous for, example being famous for their crab fishing they would have a crab booth, or for Bacolod City they have a mini Provincial Building booth since Bacolod is the capital city of Negros Occidental.

We attended the opening ceremonies on the first day which included dances from different cities participating. They were clothed in native dress and their dance told a story of the Philippine people and the culture. It was really amazing, a lot of colours and a lot of people all dancing in unison. The opening ceremonies were then closed by a fireworks display and for us some namit gid (very yummy) chicken inasal.

One thing that I always find entertainment in is the amount of security doing absolutely nothing but looking pretty holding their old guns. They were just all standing around chatting with one another. I'm not too sure what their real purpose is because I really find it hard to believe that they actually do anything productive security wise!?
We went back later in the week to walk around the different displays and to get out of the house to enjoy something free to do outside. They had some beautiful native dresses on display as well as many different hand made crafts from each of the city booths available to purchase. One of the favourite things the kids had their eyes on were these extremely visually appealing balloons. We decided to let Brayden and Sydney each pick one and as soon as these guys selling them figured out we were buyers we were literally swarmed by them! It was pretty intense.