Kapampangan

Language

Kapampangan, Tagalog, English

Population

2.4 million (3.3% of the Philippine population)

Culture

Though many Kapampangans remain devout Roman Catholics, their religious festivals display an indigenous flavour unique only to the Kapampangan people. Consider the Curaldal or "street dancing" that accompany the Feast of Santa Lucia in Sasmuan or the Aguman Sanduk were men cross-dress as women to welcome the New Year in Minalin. The Fiestang 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 a originally a non-Christian holiday that is now made to coincide with the baptism of Christ. The Kapampangan New Year or Bayung Danum 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 apostle of Christ.