Beliefs and traditions of Kapampangans during All Saints’ Day

Beliefs and traditions play a big role in the lives of Filipinos. For a different approach of presenting these beliefs and traditions that at times still bother our thoughts and our lives, here is an article, with responses coming from citizens of selected towns in Pampanga (Apalit, Macabebe, and Masantol), that can tickle your fancy, trigger realizations, and much more.

1. Praying for nine (9) nights for the soul of their departed loved ones.

Filipinos are truly prayerful, simply because they believe that prayer is the answer to everything. However, praying is not just for those who are alive, but also for those who have already departed. Many people believe that once a person dies, his first destination is the purgatory prior to entry to heaven, but before that happens, they would first need prayers from their relatives and friends for them to push through their journey to heaven. This is why families and friends offer 9 nights of prayers as a way of remembering their departed loved ones.

Different beliefs and traditions were presented in this article; nevertheless, there is one thing that we should remember: every person on Earth should show love wholeheartedly, whether for their loved ones here or in the afterlife.

For More Beliefs Visit: http://centralfocus.ixi.ph/2011/11/14/pa-talk-sa%E2%80%99yo-beliefs-and-traditions-of-kapampangans-during-all-saints%E2%80%99-day/

Some Places In Pampanga

What is Capampangan?

Capampangan or “Kapampangan ” is the Most language of the people in the Province of Pampanga. The Pampanga Province is Part Of Region III or Central Luzon and Consists of seven(7) Northern Provinces of Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, and Zambales.

For More Info Pls Visit: http://kapampanganonline.blogspot.com/p/media.html

Town with 1,000 Bonifacios honors its hero

MASANTOL PAMPANGA Philippines Andres Bonifacio was born in Tondo Manila, but he has Kapampangan roots, too.

For More Detail and Information Pls Visit: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20101201-306432/Town-with-1000-Bonifacios-honors-its-hero

Fiestas

73-yr-old Pampanga New Year tradition waning
January 4, 2007, 10:26 am
Filed under: Events, Festivals, Minalin, Traditions

By Tonette Orejas

Published on Page A13 of the January 4, 2007 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

MINALIN, PAMPANGA—A unique New Year tradition of merrymaking by men and boys in this town has lived on but signs that it is waning are beginning to show.

On Monday, fewer men wore women’s dresses and even fewer staged hilarious acts, making the 73-year-old revelry, so far the only one of its kind in the Philippines, a dull street party.

Revelers, organizers, local officials and old-timers all took note of the low attendance and not-so cheerful mood in this year’s Aguman Sanduk (Fellowship of the Ladle).

“Miritak kami (We turned out to be fewer now),” said Brian Labagis, a 22-year-old construction worker, as he danced on the streets of Sto. Rosario at past 4 p.m.

Labagis could not exactly tell why, but he surmised that some men could be shy in dressing themselves as women.

For his fourth year at this annual parade, he wore a maroon velvet gown, crowned his hair with two big yellow plastic flowers and painted his lips with a generous amount of red lipstick.

“We’d like to greet the year with happiness that’s why we do this. That’s what this tradition aims to do,” Labagis said as he and his five buddies gyrated to the tune of “Boom tarat-tarat.”

Best of all, he succeeded in amusing his girlfriend who shouted from the roadside: “Ikaw ba yan (Is that you)?”

Marianne Rabaria, president of the Parish Pastoral Council, the organizer this year, said fewer men joined although her group went to the town’s 15 villages to invite them to join the street party.

“We put up posters, streamers, coordinated with the barangay captains. Perhaps, the older men needed to coax the younger ones to join,” Rabaria said.

Mayor Edgardo Flores, one of the old-timers here, said the yearly turnout and how lively the event could get “depended really on the organizers.”

This was the first time that the council organized the event, Rabaria said, adding that her group could do better next time. The good thing that happened now is that quite a number of young men, about 300 of them, participated.

The council also managed to provide P4,000 to every participating barangay. “They could put their creativity to work,” she said.

Sta. Rita II’s float, featuring a fat man in diapers to symbolize the New Year, was the one that drew much of the laughter from the crowd.

Buenaventura Deang, 69, said it was the “spirit of fun” that was actually absent in the event.

“Enu makatula ing aliwa (Not all the acts can stir delight),” said Deang who had joined the revelry for more than 10 years.

For More Info Pls Visit : http://kapampangan.wordpress.com/category/festivals/

Flavors And Festivals Of Pampanga

There’s no denying that the province of Pampanga is known for its delectable dishes. But in the city of San Fernando, apart from exciting culinary fare, affordable fashion and the province’s vibrant culture are taking center stage.

A 30-minute ride from Quezon City via the North Luzon Expressway, Robinsons Starmills is a destination for locals and foreign tourists alike looking for a wide variety of fashion selections that won’t burn a hole in their pockets.

With outlet stores of international and local brands housed in this three-level mall—Mango, Guess, Olympic Village Outlet, Folded & Hung, People are People, Space, Collezione, Mogao—it’s a place where the value-minded fashionista can shop till he drops, because items are sold at discounted prices of as much as 75 percent.
Below are the must-trys at Fiesta Kapampangan:

Aling Lucing’s Sisig

Known for: Variety of sisig. Pioneer and inventor of the famous sisig of the ’70s and earned the title “queen of sisig.”

Mejicano’s Grill

Known for: Pampanga-style grilled liempo with lagat puso, grilled tugak batute (frog stuffed with ground pork)

Da Nanuk’s Steak House

Known for: T-Bone steak, sirloin

Edelyn’s Homemade Nuts

Known for: dry roasted cashew nuts, greaseless peanuts, special garlic chips

Rosemary & Thyme Restaurant

Known for: Civet coffee, salad

Kanan Kapampangan

Known for: authentic Kapampangan kakanin

Cecilia’s Crispy Pata and Bulalohan

Known for: crispy pata and bulalo

Itamungan Tapsilogan

Known for: authentic Kapampangan cuisine

Asan Danum Cuisine

Known for: seafood

Navarro’s Taba ng Talangka

Known for: crab paste, fermented shrimp, papaya pickles

For more Info Pls Visit :http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/56922/the-flavors-and-festivals-of-pampanga

Indung Kapampangan

Mountain of myths
Ever since I can remember, Mount Arayat has been my one and only constant visual reference of Pampanga. It was the mountain of my childhood, the mountain I passed by thousands of times each morning in my daily commutes to Angeles, and in my college years — the mountain that signalled to me “You’re almost home”, as I rode a Philippine Rabbit bus from Baguio. Indeed, the ancients considered old bunduk Alaya the navel of the earth, from which all directions, all movements of the Kapampangan universe were reckoned. Arayat was, and still is Pampanga’s most famous landmark, a twin-coned mountain that dominated our eastern landscape rising in solitary majesty from the flatlands unlike the Zambales mountain range—although Pinatubo took a bit of the limelight away from her with its 1991 eruption.

Nevertheless, Arayat was the original, a 3,564 foot high natural wonder that inspired the many myths and stories I heard with fascination in my youth. In the turbulent 70s, I found quiet entertainment in my Classics Illustrated fairy tale comic books which recounted immortal tales of Greek gods and heroes. In my child’s mind, Arayat became my Olympus, the abode of gods and the scene of their thousand and one adventures. Early on, we thrilled to the tale of the Kapampangan sun god Sinukuan who was supposedly imprisoned in a cave sealed with a “white rock” visible on the mountain side. (The “White Rock” became a bastion for Kapampangan revolucionarios in our wars with Spain, America and the Japanese). If Olympus had Vulcan working in the bowels of the mountain, we had our own fabled Sinukuan trapped inside Arayat’s belly. On car rides to Manila, we would actually inspect the white speck on Arayat from afar, although the resolution of the legend was never clear to us. There was also a vague story about an ancient battle between Apung Pinatubu and Apung Sinukuan, with the two giant creatures engaging in a rock-throwing fight that went on for days.

Another Sinukuan also figured in a legend that will rival that of Mariang Makiling. Mariang Sinukuan, it is said, was in fact, Maria Makiling’s sister who made Arayat her home. She made the forest primeval thrive with fruit-bearing trees which she cared for daily. A person who eats the juicy fruit is liable to get lost forever in the woods.It is also claimed that one can see from atop the mountain the silhouette of Mariang Sinukuan in quiet repose.

My imagination often ran wild when it came to musings about the day when Arayat would blow its top. Would it be something like the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius which swallowed whole towns as recounted in my Classics Illustrated comic book “Last Days of Pompeii?” In actuality though, Arayat is quite an extinct volcano whose last eruption was over 500,000 years ago. But then again, the Pinatubo eruption, dormant for over 600 years, is a grim reminder of the fickleness of Mother Nature.

In the 1950s to the 1970s, Arayat took on another unflattering monicker—Huk Mountain, a lair of communist activities and a hideout for the country’s peasant rebels. But it quickly shed off this image with the establishment of tourist-friendly ecopark—the Mount Arayat National Park in Barrio San Juan Baño, which boasts of natural pools, refreshing springs, picnic areas and mountain trails. To this day, Arayat is a favorite haunt of mountaineers and campers. Within its forest sanctuary are animals like local civet or musang, wild boar, monkeys and rarely-seen birds like the delectable pasdan.

Like Mount Banahaw, Arayat too has a mystical side for it is in her foothills that Rizalistas gather every December to honor the national hero in quiet ceremonies. The cult was brought to Arayat by the late Apo or Mahal na Inang Birhen Sinukuan in 1947, acknowledged as Rizal’s female incarnation. An earlier cult leader, Felipe Salvador, who established “Santa Iglesia” in the 1890s in Apalit and who organized a peasant guerrilla warfare against the Americans, relocated his church to Arayat as well. It comes as no surprise that Leo Parungao, a former press secretary and journalist known for his paranormal research and writing is from this town.

To remind myself how beautiful Pampanga is amidst the rising concrete jungles and the crowded megamalls that are threatening to cover our landscape, I need only to drive through Clark and exit through the Mabalacat or Main Gate, look through my car window where I can have a grand view of my mountain of legend and lore, of my past and present, the enduring symbol of all things Kapampangan: Arayat!

For More info story Of Myths Pls Visit: http://kapampangan.ivanhenares.com/2006/08/mountain-of-myths_18.html

Kapampangan Music

Pampanga Province has been a breeding ground for musicians for ages. There have been many talents that sprouted from small beginnings here. Apple Pineda from the Black Eyed Peas is one true monument for Kapampangan musicians to be proud of. Thia Megia of American Idol, her parents hailed from Angeles City and once visited our humble town several months ago to get back to her roots.

For More Info pls Visit: http://kapampanganrocks.wordpress.com/

Old Kapampangan Games

OLD GAMES – VERY MUCH ALIVE IN MAGALANG

Advance tecnology changed the ways the children played. Before, there is bonding between the father and son in making toys like gariton and burarul. The mother make garing-garingan for the daughters. Nowadays, children just point at toys in malls and upon going home, there is the toy. In the sidewalk and tiangge, inexpensive toys are easily available.  Every Friday, Apu Day, almost all kinds of very cheap toys are available around the area.

During our childhood, only the rich have imported dolls and other toys. How we envy their miniature bale-balayan with complete pink kitchen utensils and dining sets. Our bale-balayan is a rectangular table with the ulas (blankets) made of koku or suput arina (flour sacks) as walls. The three sides of the table are covered and the fourth serve as the door or entry. At the imaginary kitchen there are kurang-kurangan(miniature pots and pans made of clay). The white ulas also serve as a movie screen with a paritan as the light. Then a person will make hand formation technique to show a bird or some other objects. When an airplane is on the screen, the mouth gives sound of a plane.

While some girls play the bale-balayan, some girls and boys play outdoor games like maro, tambubung, tumbang preso, luksong tinik, shatung and many others. Sometimes the road serve as a playground because few vehicles and calesas pass. There are also many vacant areas available. Shatung was common in the vacant areas. Children only need two bamboo sticks to play. Girls usually draw lines on the ground for the pikung otso and pikung sampaga. At present, the children use chalks because the streets are cemented. Tirador (slingshot) can be made from a guava branch and the rubber can be purchased in the neighborhood sari-sari store just like the yoyo and the pasi (trumpo). The two famous softdrinks company issued their own yoyos. Old folks believed that if the trumpo are used, there will be hardships but with the yoyo there would be abundance. Babagwa (spider) games will mean that there would be war.

 

For more Info Pls Visit: http://magalang-heritage.weebly.com/old-kapampangan-games.html

Hot Air Baloon Fiesta In Clark Pampanga

The Balloon Fiesta In clark Pampanga hopes to fuel the passion of flying to both the young and the old to help move the aviation industry forward. It also hopes to create jobs and business opportunities by promoting Tourism.

The Fiesta hopes to instill discipline in the young pilots participating in it so that they may be safe aviators for the country as well as impart the spirit of volunteerism to everyone.

For More Info Pls. Visit http://www.philballoonfest.net/about.html