Zamboangueño people


The Zamboangueño people or Zamboangueño nation are a creole ethnolinguistic nation of the Philippines originating in Zamboanga City. Spanish censuses record that as much as one-third of the inhabitants of the city of Zamboanga possess varying degrees of Iberian and Hispanic-American admixture. In addition to this, select cities such as Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Cebu, and Cavite, which were home to military fortifications and/or commercial ports during the Spanish era also hold sizable mestizo communities. The Zamboangueño nation constitute an authentic and distinct ethnolinguistic identity because of their coherent cultural and historical heritage, most notably Chavacano, that distinguishes them from neighboring ethnolinguistic nations.

Ethnogenesis

People from other ethnolinguistic nations came to Zamboanga when the construction of the present-day Fort Pilar began. The colonial Spanish government ordered the construction of a military fort to guard off the city from Moro pirates and slave raiders of Sulu. Labourers from Panay, Cavite, Cebú, Bohol, Negros and other islands were brought to the city to help build the fort.
Eventually, these people settled in the city to live alongside and intermarried with other ethnolinguistic nations, primarily among the Subanon ethnic group, whose entire ethnicity descended from one clan is a grand claim.. Together, they would form the nucleus of the present-day Zamboangueño people. To this nucleus were added the descendants of laborers from Iloilo City in Panay and of soldiers from New Spain and Peru.
Through intermarriage, Visayans, Hispano-Americans and with the Spanish, they created a new culture which gradually developed a distinct identity—the Zamboangueños. Furthermore, because these people come from different islands and even nations and spoke different languages, they together developed a new pidgin language called Chavacano. Chavacano then evolved into a full-fledged Spanish-based creole to become the lingua franca of Zamboanga City and then the official language of the Republic of Zamboanga.

Culture

The character of the Zamboangueño people are unique as we can say for their kinship family system, love for one's cultural heritage, propensity for extravagance, fiestas and siestas, as well as aristocratic behaviour. While their social lives usually revolve around religious practices, the tradition of the bantayanon and fondas, includes their bailes the vals, regodon and paso doble. They are mostly devout Roman Catholics.
The Zamboangueños of Basilan have, of late, also acquired more globalized tastes in cuisine, fashion, and customs.

Language

is the native language of the Zamboangueño people. A conglomeration of 90% traditional Spanish and 10% influences from other Romance languages such as Portuguese, Italian and French, Native American such as Nahuatl, Taíno, Quechua et al. and Austronesian languages such as Binisaya, Subanon, Tausūg, Yakan, Sama and Malay.

Courtship etiquette

Zamboangueño courtship traditions are elaborate and regulated by a long list of required social graces. For example, a perfectly respectable Zamboangueño gentleman would not sit unless permitted to do so by the woman's parents, he then had to endure questions pertaining to his lineage, credentials and occupation. Finally, the courtship curfew and the need to cultivate the goodwill of all the members of the woman's family were paramount considerations before any headway could be made in pursuing a Zamboangueño señorita’s hand in marriage.

Dance

Zamboangueño songs and dances are derived primarily from Iberian performances. Specifically, the jota zamboangueña, a Zamboangueño version of the quick-stepping flamenco with bamboo clappers in lieu of Spanish castanets, are regularly presented during fiestas and formal tertulias or other Zamboangueño festivities.

Clothing

Likewise, Zamboangueño traditional costumes are closely associated with Spanish formal dress. Men wear close-necked jackets as they called camiseta Zamboangueña, de bastón pants, and European style shoes, complete with the de-rigueur bigotillos. Zamboangueño women claim ownership of the mascota, a formal gown with a fitting bodice, her shoulders draped demurely by a luxuriously embroidered, though stiff, pañuelo and fastened at the breast by a brooch or a medal. The skirt tapers down from the waist but continues on to an extended trail called the cola. The cola may be held on one hand as the lady walks around, or it may likewise by pinned on the waist or slipped up a cord that holds the dainty abanico or purse. The traditional Zamboangueño dress has been limited to formal functions, replaced by the more common shirt, denim jeans, and sneakers for men, and shirts, blouses, skirts or pants, and heeled shoes for women.

Festivals

There are several important events of the festival that can be witnessed during Holy Week. These include watching films about Jesus and his teachings, visitaiglesias, processions, novenas and the climbing and praying of the Stations of the Cross in Mt. Pulong Bato, Fiesta de Pilar, a festivity in honour of Our Lady of the Pillar and Zamboanga Day and Day of the Zamboangueños which is celebrated every 15 August every year for the foundation of Zamboanga and ethnogenesis of the Zamboangueño people on 15 of August 1635.
Zamboangueño celebrate Christmas in so many unique ways such as the villancicos/aguinaldos o pastores this also includes the Día de Navideña and Nochebuena, fiestas, vísperas, Diana, Misa, magá juego, processions and feasting.

Cuisine

Zamboangueño cuisine includes in its repertoire curacha, calamares, tamales, locón, cangrejos, paella, :es:Estofado|estofado, arroz a la valenciana, caldo de vaca/cerdo/pollo, puchero, caldo de arroz, :es:Lechón|lechón, :es:Jamonada|jamonadas, endulzados, embutido, adobo, afritadas, menudo, caldereta, jumbá, flan de leche and many more.

Notable persons

There are Zamboangueños who are famous for their fields of endeavor, especially in music, entertainment, sports, and politics. These are the following:
competed in the 2016 RIO Olympics, and won 2nd Place.