91. 24 SIGNIFICANT BOOKS ABOUT PAMPANGA YOU MUST KNOW, part I

Books written about Pampanga, its people and culture, including its language, literature, history. Some of these books were written by foreigners, others by local writers, in Spanish, in English, and in Kapampangan— great reading essentials to know more about our province. Here are the first 12:

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1. VIDA DEL GLORIOSO S. NICOLAS, TRADUCIDA EN YDIOMA PAMPANGO, por el P.R Phelipe Tallada, del orden N.P.S. Agustin, el año de 1614. (Life of the Glorious Saint Nicolas, Translated in the Pampango Language by Rev. Fr. Felipe Tallada, of the order of St. Augustine, in the year 1614).

Significance: This is the first ever book published in Kapampangan, in 1614. It is a biography of the life of St. Nicholas, with prayers and reflections.

2. ARTE Y REGLA DE LA LENGUA PAMPANGA, Compuesto por el Padre Predicador  Fray Francisco Coronel y prior misionero del Convento de Macabebe, 1621. (Kapampangan Grammar and Rules, by Fr. Francisco Coronel, prior of Macabebe, ca, 1621)

Significance: The earliest Kapampangan grammar and rule book in existence.  In 2005, it also became the first Kapampangan grammar book from that period to be transcribed, translated  and annotated in English, by Fr. Edilberto V. Santos. The book still contains the original text with a parallel English translation.

3. VOCABULARIO DE PAMPANGO EN ROMANCE Y DICCIONARIO DE ROMANCE EN PAMPANGO, by Fray Diego Bergaño, first published in 1732, reprinted 1860, 1916.

Significance: This Kapampangan dictionary and glossary book of over 5,177 Kapampangan word entries by the Augustinian priest Bergaño represent not just one of the earliest extant studies of our language, but also probably, the most scholarly and comprehensive. A translated English version was published by the Center for Kapampangan Studies in 2007, along with a Bergaño’s companion grammar book, “Arte de la Lengua Pampanga”, first published in 1729.

4. EJERCISIO COTIDIANO, by Dña. Luisa Gonzaga de Leon, ca. 1844.

(Book of Daily Devotions)

Significance:  Ejercisio Cotidiano (Daily Devotions) is a book of prayers, meditations and reflections, written by Bacolor-born Luisa Gonzaga de Leon (b.1805/d.1843),  printed in Spanish in 1844. This makes her the first Filipino woman to publish a book. In 1910, the book was translated into Kapampangan.

5. ING MACUYAD A PAMAGSALITA DIQUIL QÑG BIE NANG DELANAN AT PANĞATIMAUAN NING METUNG A MEBIJAG. By Fernando Garcia OSA. Published 1900. Imprenta del Colegio de Sto. Tomas. (Translated as “An Epistle of a Friar-Prisoner”, by Lino L. Dizon, 2007).

Significance: A rare account of the captivity of an Augustinian priest, P. Fernando Garcia OSA, written by the Spaniard himself in Kapampangan,  during during the Philippine revolution. It includes accounts of his “sorties from town to town and provinces” as prisoner and missionary at the turn of the century. His observations were critical of the treatment religious received from the revolucionarios. He escaped in Bontoc, reached Manila to write about his trials and tribulations as a POW.

6. GONZALO DE CORDOBA, Comedia Heroica de la Conquista de Granada o sea Vida de Don Gonzalo de Cordova, Llamado el Gran Capitan. By Fr. Anselmo Jorge Fajardo, ca. 1830s. published 1912, by Cornelio Pabalán y Byron. (Heroic Comedy of the Conquest of Granada or The Life of Don Gonzalo de Cordova, Called the Great Captain)

Significance: The longest comedia (also called “moro-moro”) in Philippine literature, the play about the exploits of Capt. Cordoba took seven nights to perform, as the lines alone numbered 31,000. When published, the book was 832 pages long. No wonder, it was only published once, over a century ago.

7. NAPUN, NGENI’T BUKAS, by Aurelio Tolentino. “Ing dramang ‘Napun, Ngeni’t Bukas’ kesukul ne ning ginawa at meatulan king apat a kasalanang sedicion, conspiracion, rebellion at insureccion laban king gobierno Americano”. 1914, Limbagang Noli. (The drama Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow caused the writer to be jailed and charged with 4 crimes: sedition, conspiracy, rebellion and insurrection against the American government).

Significance: This is Tolentino’s play first staged to a jampacked crowd in 1903 at Teatro Libertad. A key scene called for one Tagalog performer to bring down the American flag and then trample it, but the actor froze when he saw Americans in the audience. Tolentino ascended the stage and did the act himself. He was found guilty of “scurrilous libel’ for desecrating the Stars and Stripes,  and was imprisoned.

8. A CHILD OF SORROW. A Novel by Zoilo M. Galang. 1921.

Significance: The first novel in English written by a Filipino. The novel-- was made into a movie in 1930. Zoilo Galang of Bacolor, also was an encyclopedist, who put together the 10-vlume “Encyclopedia of the Philippines” published in 1934-36.

9. HISTORIA NING FILIPINAS. By Santiago Mallari. 1933 (History of the Philippines)

Significance: This slim volume is the first comprehensive Philippine history book in the Kapampangan language. It also has an account of the battle exploits and death of Tarik Soliman, the boy warrior of Macabebe. The book also devotes a section on the  Kalantiao code in Kapampangan, which has since been debunked.

10. PAMPANGA DIRECTORY, Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial, and Professional Guidebook of the Province of Pampanga, The Richest Market Outside Manila. Vol.I, by Manuel David, Managing Editor. 1933.

Significance: This limited edition book, published to commemorate the holding of the 1933 Pampanga Carnival and Exposition, gives us a snapshot of the province in the area of agriculture, commerce, and industries, etc.  during the peacetime era.  All 21 municipalities of the province are represented here, including history, key people, geographical info, products,  among others.

11. NINU’T NINU QNG CAPAMPANGAN, Bilungan Dang Bie ding Anac nang Carangalan Ning Lalawigan Capampangan, by Faustino Gutierrez. 1934 , Catimawan Press.(Who's Who in Pampanga.,  A Compendium of the Lives of the Honorable Children of Pampanga Province).

 Significance: The limited edition book contains photos and brief biographical entries of the leading personalities, families, movers and shakers of Pampanga during the Commonwealth years.

12. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF ANGELES (From its Foundation in 1796 A.D. to the Present), and his other Writings. By Mariano A.Henson. 1948, Katiwala Press.

Significance: For decades, this was the only widely-referenced published book on the history of Angeles town (reprinted 2002), written by Angeles’ venerable historian and genealogist. His major opus— “The History of Pampanga and its Towns” (rev. 1965)–remains in typewritten and mimeographed form—and continues to be consulted by Kapampangan scholars.

SOURCES:
Singsing Magazine, various issues, Center for Kapampangan Studies, HAU.
Dizon, Lino L. The Epistle of a Friar-Prisoner, as written by F. Fernando Garcia OSA, Center for Kapampangan Studies, HAU.
A Child of Sorrow: http://thessalythea.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-child-of-sorrow-biographical-analysis.html
Historia ning Filipinas, Pampanga Directory, Gonzalo de Cordoba, Napun, Ngeni't Bukas: Alex R. Castro Collection