Araneta Avenue

Characterized by participants wearing colorful masks, MassKara is coined from the words Mass for "multitude" and Kara, the Spanish term for "face," hence MassKara means "a multiple of smiling faces". The three-week festival culminates on the third week of October which sees a highlight of activities such as the MassKara Queen beauty pageant, Electric MassKara parade, the street-dancing competition that snakes throughout the city all the way to the public plaza, and a weekend of late night partying along Lacson Street, the city’s main thoroughfare.

Book. Accommodations get fully booked months leading to the festival, so it’s best to plan ahead.

Over the years, the motif of the festival has changed from masks influenced by native Filipinos to those influenced by the Carnival of Venice and the Rio Carnival.

The street dancing competition is divided into the School Division (held on a saturday) and Barangay Division (on a sunday), the latter being the highlight of the festival.

Watch. To watch the Street Dancing Competition, come atleast an hour (2 PM) before the parade starts to secure a spot along Araneta-Libertad Streets.