Names and patron saints of towns

MOST towns in Pampanga have been named after plants and trees, the reason being that before the Spaniards came, Kapampangans identified places not by parish patron saints but by whatever was prominent and prolific in the area.  Hence, Mabalacat because of the balacat trees, Betis because of the betis trees, Porac because of the rattan plant purag, Apalit because of the apalit (a variety of the narra tree), and so forth.

Angeles originally was Culiat, named after the vine kuliat, which many say is extinct but is actually still existing in Los Baños and some even claim in some barangays in Dau.  Balacat and betis trees are also still around; in fact, we have seedlings of them in Holy Angel University and hopefully use them for tree planting activities in the future.   Culiat became Angeles in honor of its titular patron saints, Los Santos Angeles Custodios (the Holy Guardian Angels) to coincide with the name of the town's founder, Don Angel Pantaleon de Miranda.

That was in fact another way of naming towns: the Spanish authorities or clergy named towns after saints with the same names as the towns' founders, to honor them without causing embarrassment.   San Fernando was named after Fernando III, king of Spain, who became a saint; San Luis after a certain Doña Luisa, wife of a lawyer who defended the town against neighboring Santa Ana town over a land dispute.  San Simon got its name from Simon de Anda, the Spanish governor general who transferred the capital from Manila to Bacolor  during the British invasion in 1762, but of course the town's patron saint is Saint Simon the Apostle.  Lastly, Bacolor made San Guillermo Ermitaño (Saint William the Hermit) its patron saint to honor its founder, Don Guillermo Manabat.

Mexico is a case all by itself.   Everybody seems to have a theory of how it got its name.  Some say it came from makasiku, meaning, situated as in elbow; others insist it came from machico, i.e., proliferation of chico trees.  Another theory is that it came from ancient term masico (great abundance of water).  Finally, it was named, simply and clearly, after the other colony of Spain, Mexico, to which it had a resemblance, and from which migrants came.  There's talk about some families in the town who are direct descendants of these Latin American migrants.  The old church, too, the one that was destroyed by an earthquake, had Mexican-Aztec characteristics.

And what about Magalang?  Was it named after respectful residents?  Not so, say some local historians.  It was never the habit of our ancestors to name their towns after abstract virtues.  There's a fascinating theory about migrants from a certain place in Indonesia called Megalang, who may have seen similarities between their old town and their new town (example: a looming mountain beside it).

Guagua got its name definitely from wawa, the native term for "mouth of a river," owing to the location of the town.  The spelling got hispanized and became Guagua (Spaniards do not pronounce their g).  There's a charming little folk tale about the town being named after the saliva dripping from the mouth of a deer, but it's very unlikely that people would name their town after a body fluid. 

Let's now go to the scandalous former name of Sasmuan, which is Sexmoan.   The town's original name was already Sasmuan, which meant a place where people assembled (to resist Chinese insurgents in Guagua, according to Mariano Henson).  People think it's the Americans who bastardized the name into sex moan but even in Spanish times the name had already been hispanized from Sasmuan to Sexmoan, the x substituting for s as it frequently happened in parts of Europe.
   
To end this discussion, let's cite the rest of the towns of Pampanga:  Arayat was coined by the Spaniards based on either dayat (Kapampangan for watery ricefield or large body of water, as in dayat malat or sea) or bunduk Alaya (old name of Mount Arayat, meaning "eastern mountain," according to Henson).  Bacolor used to be Baculud (oldtimers still refer to their town this way, just as they refer to the province as Kapampangan, not Pampanga) from makabakulud, meaning, higher ground surrounded by low-lying areas (how very true even in these days!).  Candaba came from an ancient place, Candaue, misspelled Candave and Candava by the Spanish chroniclers.  Floridablanca was named after Jose Moñino, Count of Floridablanca in Spain, who visited the town around the time of its foundation.

Lubao was the ancient term for gatao (today gato) which means "to float on water," referring to the perennial flooding there.  Macabebe, quite obviously, means bordering the riverbanks, but some people claim the town got its name from the proliferation of clams (cabibi).   Masantol was carved out of Macabebe and named after the fruit which were either indigenous to the place or were traded there from other parts.  Minalin formerly was Santa Maria, which, because of frequent flooding, was moved to hilly ground (burol); thus, the place was referred to as minalis ya king burol which was shortened to Minalis, and, later, a gobernadorcillo, Diego Tolentino, misspelled it to Minalin, and it stuck.

Finally, Santa Ana, whose ancient name was Pinpin, was named by the Augustinian friars after the mother of Virgin Mary;  Santa Rita after St. Rita of Cascia; and Santo Tomas after the doubting apostle, St. Thomas.   
 
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We would like to request those who will be using the information above, especially for publication, to properly cite the author and the Kapampangan Homepage.  The above column was published in The Voice.