Makati’s Caracol Festival 2010

January 24 marked as the day for the Caracol Festival in Makati. The Museum and Cultural Affairs Office and the Makati City Government organized this event which started 4pm at the Paseo de Roxas in the center of Makati City.

Makati’s Caracol Festival is said to be the Mardi Gras of Makati and is often participated by city officials, family members, residents and guests, including the teachers and students local schools in Makati for a grand parade and performance. It hopes to make the Caracol Festival one of the city’s major tourist attractions.

Caracol means ‘snail’ in Spanish. And the festival is centered around the preservation of the Mother Earth. This is why the participants, mostly students, are dressed up in various costumes with Mother Nature as their theme – animals, insects, aquatic creatures, plants, trees, birds and flowers are some of the usual choices.

The Caracol Festival was first conceptualized in 1986 and was included in the Fiesta Islands Program of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in 1989.

The parade concludes with a costume and dance competition where the participants performs ethnic and tribal dances for the judges and the crowd.

This year, the first prize is P50,000; second prize is P45,000; and third prize is P40,000. There is an overall champion which will receive P50,000.

May ganito pala sa Makati, Bongga!