BACOLOD City – There will be no Bacolaodiat Festival this year – the city’s Chinese New Year celebration.
Festival organizers and board members of the Bacolaodiat Inc. deemed it prudent to forgo the 16th edition of the revelry to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019.
Instead of lavish dance presentations, a “meaningful” display of lotus lanterns and an art installation of the Chinese zodiac animal Ox will mark the festival.
“Sans the clanging sounds of the gongs, the glitter of the fireworks displays and the spectacle of dragon and lion dances, the spirit of the Bacolaodiat Festival is still very much alive,” Bacolaodiat Festival chair Oddette Ong-Gomez said in statement.
She added the lanterns represent “the light at the end of the tunnel that we all aspire to reach and come out victorious in this global fight.”
Bacolaodiat is the city’s version of the Chinese New Year celebration led by the local Chinese-Filipino community. The festival’s name, Bacolaodiat, was coined from “Baco” for Bacolod and “Lao Diat”, which is a Fookien word for celebration./PN
