Kapampangan Thread

[incognito]

^looks! haha.

[judE_Law]

^looks! haha.

LIKE! 

[incognito]

Myths and facts about Kapampangans
Robby Tantingco
Peanut Gallery
Tuesday, June 16, 2009

WE KAPAMPANGANS like to imagine we are the best, the first and the most in everything, that non-Kapampangans are already beginning to scrutinize our claims to determine when we are saying the truth, when we are lying, and when we are merely delusionary.

Well, to set the record straight, let's list down the things we say about ourselves as well as the things that others say about us, both good and bad, and separate facts from myths:

1. Kapampangans are the best cooks in the country. The country's top chefs said so, Doreen Fernandez wrote so, and the Tagalogs, Bicolanos, and Ilonggos aren't disputing it, so let's call this a FACT.

2. Kapampangan women are the prettiest. Every region, province, town, and barangay in this country makes similar claims, so despite the likes of Abbygale Arenas, Melanie Marquez, and the numerous Carnival Queens from Pampanga, we will have to say this is QUESTIONABLE.

3. Kapampangans are the most fashionable among Filipinos. Easy access to PX goods in Dau and Nepo Mart during the time of the US bases enhanced Kapampangans' already inherent good looks (from Chinese-Malay-Spanish stock).

The proliferation of small-town dressmakers and tailors and schools of fashion in Pampanga, and fashion icons like Patis Tesoro, R.T. Paras, and Gang Gomez all make this claim a FACT.

4. Kapampangans are the most devout Catholics in the country. We can measure this by the number of Masses held every Sunday in Pampanga, the size of the church crowds, the number of parishes created every year, the way Kapampangans revere their priests, the fact that the first Filipino cardinal came from Guagua and the town that has produced the most number of priests is Betis (Guagua), and the fact that the first Filipino priest, first nun, first seminarian, first Jesuit, etc., all came from Pampanga -- yes, this is a statement of FACT!

5. Kapampangans are dugong aso. If they mean treacherous, this is certainly a MYTH. The tag was given by non-Kapampangans because of a misreading of history.

In 1901, a group of 78 Macabebe Scouts helped the Americans capture Gen. Aguinaldo, which so infuriated other Filipinos that they compared all Kapampangans to dogs with their blind loyalty.

John Larkin and many other historians call the comparison unfair and untrue because the Macabebes never turned against Aguinaldo: they were against him from the beginning, they never considered him their president, and they had no idea whatsoever of a campaign for nationhood and independence.

6. Kapampangans were the colonizers' favorites. This is a FACT. The Spaniards depended on Kapampangans for food (Pampanga supplied Manila with eggs, rice, and livestock), timber and manpower for their galleon shipyards, artists and artisans for their churches, and soldiers for their army, so they expressed their favoritism by giving Kapampangans access to their exclusive schools and the royal army.

The Americans were similarly impressed with Kapampangans' military skills, which gave them the reason for forming the Philippine Scouts.

7. Kapampangans can't pronounce h and f. The ancient Kapampangan orthography did not have the letters h and f, and the 1732 Kapampangan dictionary, written by Spanish missionary Diego Bergaño, does not have them either, reflecting his observation at the time.

Today we have learned to overcome this regional peculiarity, but let's admit it, there are unguarded moments when we catch ourselves saying, ‌We can't elp it!" and ‌It just afens!" Sorry, but this is a FACT.

8. The most servile wives and mothers are Kapampangans. I know a lot of wives and mothers who will not sit down at the dinner table until they have poured water on the glass of their husband and children, refilled their plate with rice, and even peeled their shrimp.

I also know a lot of Kapampangan women who tolerate their husbands' philandering. Then again, there is the archetype of strong Kapampangan women who run the family business and manage the household almost single-handedly. So, this claim is QUESTIONABLE.

9. Kapampangans are the most rebellious people in the Philippines. The first native to die defending his land was a chieftain from Macabebe. The first regional rebellion that nearly succeeded in becoming a national revolution was the Kapampangan Revolt of 1660.

Kapampangans helped Rizal publish his novels (Valentin Ventura and Jose Alejandrino), helped Bonifacio found the Katipunan (Aurelio Tolentino), helped Aguinaldo launch the Revolution (Maximino Hizon, Francisco Makabulos, etc.). The founders (or co-founders) of the Partido Sosyalista ng Pilipinas, the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas, the Hukbalahap, the New People's Army, the Kabataang Makabayan, the Kilusang Mayo Uno, and many other left-wing organizations, were all Kapampangans. This is definitely a FACT.

10. Kapampangans are the most literary people in the country. The longest literary work in the Philippines (‌Don Gonzalo de Cordoba" by Anselmo Fajardo), the first zarzuela in any Philippine language (‌Ing Managpe" by Mariano Proceso Pabalan Byron), the first English novel written by a Filipino (‌A Child of Sorrow" by Zoilo Galang) were all penned by Kapampangans.

Anthologist Edna Zapanta Manlapaz compared the literary output during the Golden Age of Kapampangan Literature in Bacolor to that of Elizabethan England at the time of Shakespeare. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, all of Pampanga was abuzz with zarzuela, kuriru, crissotan, and a myriad of literary performances and expressions.

Today, however, all of this is just a memory, although we still have poets laureate, literary contests, literary organizations, and enough literary activity to make this claim no longer a fact but still not yet a myth, so this is QUESTIONABLE.

[judE_Law]

^nice article

[incognito]

Proud Kapampangans
Robby Tantingco
Peanut Gallery
Monday, July 5, 2010

DID you hear the band play "Atin Ku Pung Singsing" as Noynoy Aquino led Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to her private car at the Luneta last June 30?

I remember thinking, maybe the band intended it as a farewell to the outgoing Kapampangan President as well as a welcome to the incoming President, who is also Kapampangan. (Imagine two Kapampangan Presidents in a row!)

I was really impressed when President Arroyo-this wisp of a lady who was no taller than a girl during First Communion-marched right into the sea of yellow in front of the Quirino Grandstand, head held high as the crowd heckled and booed.

You got to hand it to her: She outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and outlived them all. She knocked down every giant in the political arena. She defanged FVR, demystified Cory Aquino, jailed Erap. She survived scandals, calamities, controversies and coup attempts which any other head of state would never have.

And despite being the most unpopular president ever, she still managed a graceful exit (well, at least until the charges are filed).

After the Luneta send-off, Gloria drove to Pampanga where her province mates welcomed her with open arms and a streamer that said "You are the greatest President the Philippines has ever had!"

Oops, did I hear tongues clucking?

I was in Baguio at the time. A non-Kapampangan friend told me, "Kayong mga Kapampangan talaga! Inyo na si Gloria nyo, huwag nyo nang ibalik sa amin!"

Ouch. But of course the streamer's declaration was far from true (it was, in fact, a lie), but that was probably just our cabalens' way of consoling or cajoling a gloomy Gloria who had just transitioned from Chief Executive to ordinary citizen.

Besides, we Kapampangans are really quite into the habit of exercising our bragging rights at the drop of a hat.

And every time we make a boast, we can expect non-Kapampangans to raise an objection. We're always claiming, they say, to be the first, the most, the best and the greatest.

I'm tempted to say, "But aren't we?" but that's precisely the kind of Kapampangan conceit that puts us in trouble.

Actually, it's not conceit -- it's pride. Actually, it's not pride --it's siege mentality.

Kapampangans feel under attack all the time, imagining themselves surrounded by things that threaten their very existence.

For example, when you look at Pampanga on the map, you really wonder how this small province could have evolved its own unique language and culture, and how it manages to hang in there. Scholars call us a "linguistic island" because we stay afloat in a sea of Tagalogs, Ilocanos, Zambals and Pangasinenses.

Our proximity to Tagalog-speaking Manila is another problem because this mega-city eclipses, overwhelms and absorbs everything that comes near it. Pretty soon we will all stop speaking Kapampangan and we will have no more reason to call ourselves Kapampangan.

That's a quite stressful prospect. And so to reassure ourselves, we make a lot of noise about being the first, the most, the best, and the greatest, which the others should not mind because it's just our way of saying, We have accomplished so much as a people so we should not disappear from the face of this planet!

This siege mentality that's making us toot our own horns today is probably the same siege mentality that motivated our Kapampangan ancestors to overachieve and become the country's first priests, nuns, Jesuits, woman authors, doctors, etc. and write the country's longest literary work, first vernacular zarzuela, English novel, etc.

And because we excelled more than the others, we became the colonizers' favored Indios-which of course gave us a reason to brag and the others a reason to hate us.

The Spanish missionary Fray Diego Bergaño, who wrote a Kapampangan grammar in 1729 and a Kapampangan dictionary in 1732 (both translated into English and published by the Center for Kapampangan Studies), observed that Kapampangans considered themselves already a nation, not just a tribe, and were quite proud of it, too, even in those days.

He said Kapampangans often told each other, "Misangdaya ca ta" and "Cadaya da ca," which literally mean "We share the same blood," but what they also meant, Bergaño said, was "We are of one nation" and "You are my countryman."

"You are proud," he added, "pablasang daya cang Capampangan." Bergaño himself translated the last part as "because you belong to the Pampango nation."

Imagine us already thinking of sharing the same bloodline and belonging to one nation, long before the rest of the country developed the concept of nationhood. We were patriotic to the Kapampangan Nation long before we became patriotic to the Filipino Nation.

It was this same patriotism that drove the "brave youth from Macabebe" (a.k.a. Tarik Soliman or Bambalito) way back in 1571 to fight Martin de Goiti in the Battle of Bangkusay, against the advice of the Tagalog chieftains in Manila (who welcomed the conquistadores).

Tarik Soliman, "the bravest chieftain on the island," rejected negotiation overtures and he did it with characteristic Kapampangan braggadocio: he told the Spaniards he would never befriend them even if lightning cut his body in half and even if all his women deserted him. And then, brandishing his sword he jumped out of the window (instead of walking through the door), went to his ship and sailed away, amid hurrahs.

Well, he died, unfortunately, but history recorded his heroism and martyrdom. It's there in Fray Gaspar de San Agustin's Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas, in Joaquin Martinez de Zuñiga's Historia de las Islas Filipinas, in Miguel Lopez de Legazpi's letter to the Viceroy of Mexico dated August 11, 1572, and in a codex found in the collection of Don Antonio Graiño dated 1590-1593, first published in the journal Erudicion Ibero-Ultramarina 13:IV (Enero, 1933).

But despite these evidences, historians in Manila keep ignoring our claim, because then they have to rewrite history. We have no choice but to bang our own drums.

So you see, we do boast a lot, but we always boast for a reason.

[incognito]

Vain Kapampangans
Robby Tantingco
Peanut Gallery
Monday, July 12, 2010

ACCORDING to ourselves, we are the best cooks in the country and the most fashionable, too.

We know this to be true because Manileños drive all the way here for a cup of sokolati king batirul. Our sisig is to die for, and even Anthony Bourdain likes Claude Tayag's pacó (fern) salad.

We also know that our vanity comes from a long tradition of haute couture started by R.T. Paras, the Salgado School of Fashion, the Angeles Fashion School, all the way down to Marta Teoleco, Patis Tesoro and Gang Gomez (now Dom Martin, OSB).

The annual rigodons organized by social clubs like Circulo Escenico (Bacolor), Circulo Fernandino (San Fernando), Kundiman (Angeles), Tomasian (Sto, Tomas) and Young Generation (Macabebe) were held in dusty basketball courts but you'd be surprised the ladies wore Pitoy Moreno, Ben Farrales and Ramon Valera.

My Ilocano friends in Baguio think Kapampangans are maporma pero wala naman pera, preferring to spend their last peso on clothes than on food.

Actually, there are quite a number of Kapampangans who can't even cook rice and who need extreme fashion makeover, but we do have a solid reputation for fine cuisine and good fashion sense, don't we? And some history to back it up, too.

The term ymalan Capampangan (‌clothes made by Kapampangans" or ‌clothes worn by Kapampangans") was already in vogue as early as the 1600s. It's there in Fray Francisco Coronel's book Arte y Reglas de la Lengua Pampanga (1621).

War gave our ancestors a reason to dress up. Fashion probably originated with battle outfits. I can imagine boys and men gearing up for battle in their best finery, looking like peacocks with their feathered headgears and polished breastplates.

In 1630, Fray Juan de Medina wrote that Kapampangan soldiers who joined the Spanish army ‌present a fine appearance, because the villages come to their aid, each with a certain sum, for their uniforms." He said Kapampangans from Bacolor were ‌the richest and best dressed in all of Pampanga."

In his 1732 Kapampangan dictionary, Vocabulario en la Lengua Pampanga en Romance, Fray Diego Bergaño uses only one word, tinguis, to refer to both ‌a well-dressed man" and ‌a well-armed man."

The adjective matingquis, Bergaño says, describes someone who ‌girds his belt, tucks up his sleeves, takes his machete, and goes out in a rush to do battle."

Our culinary skills, on the other hand, came from the bounty of the province—‌the richest and most beautiful in the islands," wrote French traveler Jean Mallat in 1846—which gave our ancestors no excuse to scrimp on ingredients.

The booming egg and sugar industries in Pampanga produced sweets unlike any other in the archipelago: sans rival, tibuk-tibuk, yemas, pastillas de leche, marzipan, turrones de kasuy, leche flan, espasol, saniculas, ensaymada, masa podrida, polvoron, etc.

Our closeness to the colonial masters also gave us access to European and Mexican recipes, allowing us to experiment in the kitchen to concoct local versions of imported dishes (longganisa for chorizo, bringi for paella, bobotu for tamales).

Kapampangan families kept their respective heirloom recipes and competed for VIP guests to their banquets. The Arnedos of Apalit once threw a party in Sulipan with no less than a prince from Cambodia and a duke from Russia as guests. (The Arnedos' cooks also did the catering for the First Philippine Republic in Malolos.)

But all this pride and vanity really came from a bad situation and rather sad chapter in Kapampangan history.

The same wars that gave our ancestors reason to dress up also caused them untold suffering and death. Kapampangans were always sent to accompany their colonial masters to dangerous missions and expeditions, and to quash rebellions and invasions, sometimes against their fellow Kapampangans.

When the Dutch invaded Luzon, it was Kapampangan soldiers that were thrown to the front line. ‌Not a single Kapampangan deserted to the enemy," wrote Fray Juan de Medina.

When the British invaded Manila, it was Kapampangan soldiers, a thousand of them, who were again made to face the invaders. ‌Their ferocity and courage amazed the English," wrote the British chronicler A.P. Thorton. ‌These strange natives died like wild beasts, gnawing our bayonets."

Amazing but tragic. Can you imagine how many generations of succeeding Kapampangans were not born because of the unnecessary deaths of these brave soldiers? And yet their martyrdom is often questioned and their patriotism ridiculed and never given due recognition.

In 1660, Kapampangans themselves finally revolted against the Spaniards, after farmers were forced to sell their harvests to the colonial government at low prices and leave nothing for their own families. Worse, the same farmers were forced to leave their farms to cut timber for the Cavite shipyards.

The resulting famine in Pampanga forced our ancestors to use their creativity and turn insects, frogs, mice, snakes, and bitter herbs into not just edible but delectable food like kamaru, tinolang tugak, betute, burung talangka, sabo maligosu, etc.

On the rare occasions when they butchered an animal (including dogs), they made sure they wasted nothing—not the jowl, or tongue, or ears, or brain, or skin, or hooves, or blood, tail and entrails, which they made into sisig, kilayin, tidtad, pindang, karikari, adobung iso, etc.

Rich land and suffering people, feast and famine—these contradictions gave Kapampangan cuisine its two faces: the pamangan macualta (rich people's food like lechon, asado, afritada, menudo, relleno, mechado, bringi, etc.) and the pamangan calulu (poor man's meals like sigang, paksing demonyus, sabo talilung, suam mais, postri, lagat kamyas, gatas tigri, burung asan, etc.).

Next time you get complimented for your cooking or criticized for your vanity, remember our ancestors paid for it with their own blood.

[incognito]

Thanks to the Center for Kapampangan Studies for the articles. hehe!

[judE_Law]

^love it incognito!

[hypebeast]

ita mung minunang article binasa ku. makatamad mamasa haha

[incognito]

loko basan mu la ngan. very informative la. 

[bajuy]

kilala ko deng sinulat at mig research ken. ken la HAU
one of them is son of Dr Tantingco


goodjob incogz

[incognito]

^thanks!
ken ka bang HAU megaral?

[bajuy]

wa hehe ika wari?

[hypebeast]

loko basan mu la ngan. very informative la. 

tamad ku lol

[judE_Law]

mayap a bengi abe!