Kapampangan people

Kapampangan
Total population
2.89 million
(3.3% of the Philippine population)
Regions with significant populations

 Philippines
(Pampanga, Tarlac, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Metro Manila)

 United States

 Canada

Worldwide
Languages
Philippine languages (Kapampangan, Tagalog), English
Religion
Roman Catholicism, Iglesia ni Cristo,Buddhism, Islam, Animism (Ariya)
Related ethnic groups
Filipinos (Tagalog, Sambal, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Bicolano, other Filipino ethnic groups), Austronesian peoples

The Kapampangan people or Pampango are a Filipino ethnolinguistic group native to and the sixth largest ethnic group in the Philippines, numbering about 2,890,000.

Overview

Rufino Cardinal Santos: the first Filipino to be named cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

The province of Pampanga is traditional homeland of the Kapampangans. Once occupying a vast stretch of land that extended from Tondo[1] to the rest of Central Luzon, huge chunks of territories were carved out of Pampanga so as to create the provinces of Bulacan, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Aurora and Tarlac.[2] As a result, Kapampangans now populate a region that extends beyond the political boundaries of the small province of Pampanga. In the province of Tarlac, the indigenous population of Tarlac City and the municipalities of Bamban, Capas and Concepcion are Kapampangans, while the municipalities of Victoria, La Paz, have a significant Kapampangan population. In Bataan, Kapampangans populate the municipalities of Dinalupihan and Hermosa, and the barangays of Mabatang in Abucay and Calaguiman in Samal. Kapampangans can be found scattered all across the southern barrios of Cabiao in the province of Nueva Ecija and in the western section of the province of Bulacan. Kapampangan enclaves still exist in Tondo and other parts of the National Capital Region. Kapampangans have also migrated to Mindoro, Palawan and Mindanao and have formed strong Kapampangan organizations called aguman in Davao City and General Santos City. Agumans based in the United States and Canada are active in the revival of the Kapampangan language and culture.[3]

The Kapampangans have produced many Rajahs, Datus, four Philippine presidents, three chief justices, a senate president, the first Filipino cardinal, one Huk Supremo, many Huk Commanders and NPA cadres and many personalities in public service, education, diplomacy, journalism, the arts and sciences, entertainment and business.

The oldest artifact ever found in the Province of Pampanga is a 5000-year-old stone adze found in Candaba. It is said to be a tool used in building boats. Earthenware and tradeware dating back to 1500 BC have also been found in Candaba and Porac.[4] Farming and fishing were the main industries of the Kapampangan people.

Kapampangans have played a dynamic yet conflicting role in Philippine history. It was the Kapampangans of Macabebe who were the first to defend the Luzon Empire from Spanish domination in 1571.[5] Yet it was the Kapampangans that the Spaniards relied on to defend their new colony from the Dutch. It was at this time that "one Castillan plus three Kapampangans" were considered as "four Castillans" as long they gallantly served in the colonial armed forces. Such behaviour earned them the stereotype of being quislings in exchange for personal wealth and self-aggrandisement all throughout the archipelago.[5] After their successful battle against the Dutch in 1640, only Kapampangans were allowed to study side by side with the Spaniards in exclusive Spanish academies and universities in Manila, by order of Governor-General Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera.[2] In 1896, Kapampangans were one of the principal ethnic groups to push and fuel the Philippine revolution against Spain. Yet it was also the Kapampangans of Macabebe that fiercely defended the last Spanish garrison against the revolutionaries.

With the outbreak of World War II, Japanese planes invaded the main province of Pampanga and attacked the United States Air Base at Clark Field in Angeles, Pampanga on December 8, 1941. Later Japanese soldiers entered the province of Pampanga on 1942 and the Japanese Occupation formally began.

Many Kapampangans joined a group of stronghold soldiers that survived the invasion and officially trained under the 31st Infantry Division, Philippine Commonwealth Army. USAFFE was stationed in Pampanga on July 26, 1941 before the Japanese Occupation to June 30, 1946. After the Battle of Bataan in 1942, some Kapampangan soldiers of the USAFFE 31st Infantry Division fought four years of battles against Japanese troops. After the fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942, many Kapampangan soldiers of the USAFFE 31st Division surrendered to the Japanese and then participated in the Death March of Bataan Death March from Mariveles, Bataan to Capas, Tarlac.

Many Kapampangans joined the guerrilla resistance fighters of the Hukbalahap Communist resistance. Many Kapampangan guerrillas and Hukbalahap communist groups fought four years of insurgency during the Japanese Occupation and also fought side by side with allied forces in the main province of Pampanga, helping local troops of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and incoming Philippine Constabulary 3rd Infantry Regiments stationed at the general headquarters in Pampanga in operations in Central Luzon from 1942 to 1945 against the Imperial Japanese troops. After the insurgency, many Kapampangan guerrillas and Hukbalahap resistance groups about the retreating by the Japanese and before the liberation on 1945 from the combined Allied forces and guerrillas.

Culture & cuisine

Many Kapampangan festivals display an indigenous flavor unique only to the Kapampangan people. Consider the Curaldal or "street dancing" that accompanies the Feast of Santa Lucia in Sasmuan or the Aguman Sanduk were men cross-dress as women to welcome the New Year in Minalin or the Batalla Festival to reenact the battle between the native Muslim Moor and the new colonist Native Capampangan Christians, the historical battle between the two religious native Kapampangans. They start the battle in Ugtung-aldo or afternoon and they end it in Sisilim or sunset with the tune of what Macabebeanons and Masantuleñios called BATTALA Masantol, Macabebe and Lubao.

The Pistang Danum of the barrios of Pansinao, Mandasig, Lanang and Pasig in Candaba - where food is served on floating banana rafts on the waters of the Pampanga River - was originally a non-Christian holiday that is now made to coincide with the baptism of Christ. The Kapampangan New Year or Bayung Banwa that welcomes the coming of the monsoons and the start of the planting season is made to coincide with the feast of John the Baptist. The colourful Apung Iru fluvial procession of Apalit, once a thanksgiving celebration in honour of the river, has become the feast of Saint Peter.

The most dramatic festivals can be witnessed during the Mal ay Aldo, which is the Kapampangan expression of the Holy Week. These include the erection of a temporary shrine known as the puni where the pasion or the story of Christ's suffering is chanted in archaic Kapampangan. The melody of the Kapampangan pasion was said to have been taken from their traditional epic, whose original words were lost and replaced by the story of Christ. The highlight of the mal ay aldo celebration is the procession of the magdarame or sasalibatbat penitents covered in blood from self-flagellation. Some of them even have themselves crucified every Good Friday at the dried up swamp of barrio Cutud in San Fernando.

Kapampangan cuisine, or Lutung Kapampangan, has gained a favourable reputation among other Philippine ethnic groups. Some popular Kapampangan dishes that have become mainstays across the country include sisig, kare-kare, "tocino" or pindang and their native version of the longaniza.

Other Kapampangan dishes - which are an acquired taste for the other ethnic groups - include buru (fish fermented in rice), betute tugak (stuffed frogs), adobung kamaru (mole crickets sauteed in vinegar and garlic), estofadong barag (spicy stewed monitor lizard), sisig,kalderetang asu (spicy dog stew), sigang liempu, "dagis a tinama"(marinated rats), laman panara and bobotu.

Demographics

The Kapampangans are shown in lavender in this map.

Many Kapampangans have Han Chinese and Japanese ancestry. There are also trace evidence of intermarriages with other Philippine ethnic groups.

Kapampangans are mostly Christians, a majority of which are Roman Catholics, Methodists, Iglesia ni Cristo and members of various Protestant denominations and the restorationist The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). However, traces of Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam can still be found among their folk practices and traditions.

Prominent Kapampangans

For a list of prominent or noteworthy Kapampangans, see Category:Kapampangan people.

History, politics and religion

Arts and Culture

Juan Crisostomo Soto (Bacolor, Pampanga, Monument and memorial).

Popular culture, sports & entertainment

Prominent people of Kapampangan descent

Popular culture, sports & entertainment

See also

References

  1. ↑ Loarca, Miguel de, Relación de las Yslas Filipinas, Blair and Robertson volume 5, page 34–187
  2. 1 2 Henson, Mariano A. 1965. The Province of Pampanga and Its Towns: A.D. 1300-1965. 4th ed. revised. Angeles City: By the author.
  3. ↑ Camiling Alejandro S. "Recipient of the PHS Centennial Outstanding Alumnus Award in the Field of Accountancy 2008 Recipient of the City of San Fernando, Pampanga's Outstanding Fernandino Award in the Field of Culture 2011". andropampanga. pp. 1st page on the 6th paragraph. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  4. ↑ Mapiles Herbert P. (July 30, 2011). "Early Kapampangan civilization traced in Candaba". sunstar publication. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  5. 1 2 Gaspar de San Agustin, Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas 1565-1615, Translated by Luis Antonio Mañeru, 1st bilingual ed [Spanish and English], published by Pedro Galende, OSA: Intramuros, Manila, 1998
  6. ↑ Santiago
  7. ↑ "Truly Pinoy: Da King Fernando Poe Jr.". ABS CBN global. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  8. ↑ Camiling, Alejandro S. , Camiling, Teresita Z. "Pampanga's Two Chartered Cities and Her Twenty Towns". Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  9. ↑ http://www.larazon.es/detalle_normal/noticias/372461/la-tribu-filipina-de-isabel-preysler#.UrDnq9JDu5I
  10. ↑ Reyes, William (2009-09-21). "PEP PROFILES: Elwood Perez and his masterpieces that gave birth to showbiz's brightest stars". Philippine Entertainment Portal. Summit Media.

Further reading

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