Pangasinan people
The Pangasinan people, also known as Pangasinense, are an ethnolinguistic group native to the Philippines. Numbering 1,823,865 in 2010, they are the tenth largest ethnolinguistic group in the country. In the 2020 census Pangasinan speaking households made up roughly 1.3% of Philippine households. They live mainly in their native province of Pangasinan and the adjacent provinces of La Union and Tarlac, as well as Benguet, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, and Nueva Vizcaya. Smaller groups are found elsewhere in the Philippines and worldwide in the Filipino diaspora.
Etymology
The name Pangasinan means 'land of salt' or 'place of salt-making'. It is derived from asin, the word for 'salt' in Pangasinan. The Pangasinan people are referred as Pangasinense. The term Pangasinan can refer to the indigenous speakers of the Pangasinan language or people of Pangasinan heritage.Demographics
The estimated population of the Pangasinan people in the province of Pangasinan is 2.5 million. The Pangasinan people are also living in the neighboring provinces of Tarlac, La Union, and Zambales, Benguet, Nueva Ecija, and Nueva Vizcaya; as well as in Pangasinan communities in other parts of the Philippines and overseas. Kapampangans were the native residents of the northwest areas of Nueva Ecija; Pangasinan settlers moved there during early years of Spanish territorial period until the Kapampangans assimilated to the Pangasinan settlers.Languages
Their native language is also named Pangasinan, which is classified under the Pangasinic group of languages of the Northern Philippine language branch of Malayo-Polynesian languages. Many Pangasinan are multilingual and fluent in Ilocano, English, and Filipino. However, the spread and influence of the other languages is contributing to the decline of the Pangasinan language. Many Pangasinan people, especially the native speakers are promoting the use of Pangasinan in the print and broadcast media, Internet, local governments, courts, public facilities and schools in Pangasinan. In April 2006, the creation of Pangasinan Wikipedia was proposed, which the Wikimedia Foundation approved for publication on the Internet.Pangasinan residents in Zambales and Tarlac may also have knowledge of Sambal and Kapampangan. Pangasinan residents of Mindanao and their descendants are also fluent speakers of Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Butuanon, Surigaonon and various indigenous Mindanaoan languages in addition to their native language. However, Pangasinan language has been endangered especially among newer generation of Pangasinans born in Mindanao due to assimilation to the Cebuano-speaking majority, with Cebuano is their main language with varying fluency in their ancestors' native language or none at all.
Indigenous religion
Prior to Spanish colonization, the Pangasinan people believed in a pantheon of unique deities.Immortals
- Ama: the supreme deity, ruler of others, and the creator of mankind; sees everything through his aerial abode; father of Agueo and Bulan also referred as Ama-Gaolay
- Agueo: the morose and taciturn sun god who is obedient to his father, Ama; lives in a palace of light
- Bulan: the merry and mischievous moon god, whose dim palace was the source of the perpetual light which became the stars; guides the ways of thieves
Mortals
- Urduja: a warrior princess who headed a supreme fleet