Abucay, Bataan Etymology

Jack Maico
Apr 10
2 min read

Abucay is a third-class municipality in the province of Bataan, Philippines. The name Abucay was coined from “abu-kinaykay” which means digging debris from the fire. According to legend, a Spaniard came to this town and asked for its name. It just so happened that his arrival followed a fire that burned and destroyed several houses in the town so the people were busy digging the remains from the ashes. Digging or shoveling is “kinaykay’ in the town’s local dialect, so when this Spaniard asked for the name of the place, the residents replied “abu-kinaykay” thinking that this Spaniard was asking what they were doing. From then on, this town was called that way, and later onto Abucay.

Source: https://www.dvidshub.net/.../bataan-honors-its-namesake...

Special credits: https://www.facebook.com/1Bataan

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Church in town: 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐳𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡

Saint Dominic de Guzman Parish Church, commonly known as Abucay Church, is a 17th-century Baroque Roman Catholic church located at Brgy. Laon, Abucay, Bataan, Philippines. The parish church, established in 1587 and administered by the Dominican Missionary Friars in 1588, is dedicated to Saint Dominic of Guzman. The parish is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Balanga. Since June 5, 2023, its parish priest has been Fr. Milver R. Cruz.

The church housed one of the earliest printing presses in the Philippines, established in 1608 by Father Francisco Blancas de San Jose, O.P., and Tomas Pinpin, who used the facility to print books in Spanish and Tagalog.[3][4] The church was also a witness to the massacre of hundreds of Filipinos and Spaniards by the Dutch Invaders on June 23, 1647. These pieces of the church's history were inscribed on a historical marker installed by the National Historical Committee (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines) in 1939.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abucay_Church

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲

Abucay was the site of the infamous massacre of 400 Pampangos who fought against the Dutch invaders on June 23, 1647. This town witnessed the courage and heroism of our countrymen who resisted against the Spaniards, the Dutch, the Americans, and the Japanese colonizers.

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐛𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐲: