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The Zamboangueño people (Chavacano/Spanish: Pueblo Zamboangueño) are a creole ethnolinguistic nation of the Philippines and Malaysia 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 Spanish and Hispanoamerican admixture. In addition to this, select cities such as Bacólod, Cebú, Iloílo and Zamboanga, which were home to military fortifications or commercial ports during the Spanish era also hold sizable mestizo communities. The Zamboangueño 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.
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Ethnogenesis
People from other ethnolinguistic nations came to Jambangan (present-day 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 Cebú, Cavite, Bohol, Negros, Panay 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 <--That an entire ethnicity is descended from one clan is a grand claim. (from the Royal Ethnic lineage of Macombong and Tongab whose father is Shariff Bungsu of Brunei royalty and mother is Princess Nayac, the daughter of the late King of Kingdom of Jambangan, Datu Timuay of the Subanon ethnolinguistic nation who are the ancestors together with other ethnolinguistic nation - the Lutao,)--> Together, they would form the nucleus of the present-day Zamboangueño people. To this nucleus were added the descendants of labourers from Iloílo (also in Panay) and of soldiers from New Spain and Peru. Through intermarriage, Ilongos, Hispanoamericans and with the Spanish, they created a new culture which gradually developed a distinct identity—the Zamboangueños (Zamboangueño: magá/maná Zamboangueños; Spanish: 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, and aristocratic behaviour. While their social lives usually resolve around religious practices, the tradition of the bantayanon, fiestas, fondas, includes their bailes the vals, regodon and paso doble.
The Zamboangueño customs are based on European and Iberoamerican notions of patriarchal authority, etiquette, familial obligation, as well as a feeling of superiority—characterized by excessive pride, vanity, jealousy, boastfulness and snobbishness—over their less-Westernized neighbors. They are mostly devout Roman Catholics, even though the mentality just mentioned flatly contradicts Catholic teaching.
The Zamboangueños of Basilan have, of late, also acquired more globalised tastes in food, clothing and customs.
Language
Chavacano is the native language of the Zamboangueño people. A Conglomeration of 90% traditional Spanish/Castillan and 10% influences from other Romance Languages such as Portuguese, Italian and French, Native American such as Nahuatl, Taíno, Quechua, Mexican Spanish et al. and Austronesian languages such as Binisaya (mainly Hiligaynon/Ilonggo & Cebuano), Subanon, bahasa Sūg, Yakan, Sama, Tagalog.
Courtship etiquette
Zamboangueño courtship traditions are elaborate and regulated by a long list of required social graces. For example, a perfectly respectable Zamboangueño gentleman (caballero) 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
Zamboangan songs and dances are derived primarily from Spanish/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 (mustache). More recently, Zamboangueño men have adapted to wearing the formal barong Tagalog, worn by men throughout the Philippines. 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 (belt) 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 festival that can be witness during Holy Week (Chavacano: Semana Santo; Spanish: Semana Santa). These include watching films (magá película) about Jesus and his teachings, visitaiglesias, processions, novenas and the climbing and praying of the Stations of the Cross (Estaciones de la Cruz) in Mt. Pulong Bato, Fiesta de Pilar (Spanish: Fiesta del Pilar), a festivity in honour of Our Lady of the Pillar (Zamboangueño: Nuestro Señora de Pilar; Spanish: Nuestra Señora del Pilar) and Zamboanga Day (Día de Zamboanga) and Day of the Zamboangueños (Día del magá Zamboangueño) 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 Nochebueno (Spanish: Nochebuena), fiestas, vísperas, Diana, Misa, magá juego, processions and feasting.
Cuisine
Zamboangueño cuisine includes in its repertoire curacha, calamares, tamales, locón, cangrejos, paella, estofado, arroz a la valenciana, caldo de vaca/cerdo/pollo, puchero, caldo de arroz, lechón, jamonadas, endulzados, embutido, adobo, afritadas, menudo, caldereta, jumbá, flan de leche and many more.
Famous Zamboangueños
There are Zamboangueños who are famous for their fields of endeavour, especially in music, entertainment, sports and politics. These are the following:
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competed in the 2016 RIO olympics, and won 2nd Place.