Kapampangan Culture as How A Gen Z Sees It
Despite being the daughter of a Pampanggo native, I only started to get immersed in the Kapampangan culture when I turned seven years old. Young and naïve, I was not able to grasp how popular our culture was until now.
I ask you, have you ever been exposed to our culture? Giving you a little context, we listed down some Kapampangan cultures to remember if you want to know us!
Cabalens are Very Loud People
Seriously, we are. Picture this: you are in a public place and you hear high voices speaking very fast in a dialect. Your first instinct might be people are fighting, right? But really, it is probably just a good day for one of my aunties. Or maybe she met another kababayan while strolling down the mall.
It is because of this room-engulfing loudness that we are able to distinguish one Kapampangan from another even though we just met them mere seconds ago.
Partay People!
And since we are, uhm, excited people, we put this to good use. Somehow, even if it is just Nene’s end of the semester in freshman-year college, or Dudut’s successful first attempt to create our lola’s pamanang sisig, we will find a way to celebrate.
I guess since Cabalens are good cooks, we also want to master our craft. Also, you can never have a lot of karaoke sessions with your cousins, right?
Unfortunately, Kapampangans are Bashers
Since Cabalens are a bit ethnocentrists, we tend to always favor our old ways. Eating out and the sinigang is not sour enough? A Kapampangan lola will magically procure sampalocs out of thin air. A sisig was served and it is not cooked just the way they like it, a Kapampangan tita will loudly whisper, “sa bahay na lang sana tayo kumain. Kayang-kayang ka ko ‘tong gawin, eh.”
I am aware that this attitude is borderlining pride and rudeness, but I never said I am a fan of it!
Backbones of Society
Though we have our own flaws, we cannot all deny that Kapampangans, as a community, are also essential members of our nation. Since Pampanga is located in Central Luzon, most of the Kapampangans earn their living from farming.
And farmers are the providers of our food, producers of our raw materials, and the backbone of our society. As Gen Zs, we know better than to see them otherwise.
These are some of the Kapampangan cultures that I grew up with. Yes, we can be a lot, but one thing is for sure; no matter what, we are always at our extremes.
