Bicolano people in the context of "Festivals"

Valenzuela (/ˌvælənzjuˈɛlə/, Tagalog pronunciation: [valensˈwela]; Latin American Spanish pronunciation: [balenˈswela] , Spanish pronunciation: [balenˈθwela] ), officially the City of Valenzuela (Filipino: Lungsod ng Valenzuela), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 725,173 people.

Valenzuela ranks as the 6th most populous city in the National Capital Region and is the 11th most populous city in the Philippines. Located 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) north of the nation's capital, Manila , it is categorized as a highly urbanized, first-class city under the Republic Acts No. 7160 and 8526, which are based on categories of income classification and population. The landlocked city is located on the island of Luzon. It is bordered by the province of Bulacan to the north, the cities of Caloocan and Quezon City to the east, and Malabon to the southwest. Valenzuela also shares a border along the Tenejeros-Tullahan River with Malabon. The city has a total land area of 45.75 square kilometers (17.66 square miles). Its residents are composed of about 72% Tagalog people, followed by 5% Bicolanos, with a small percentage of foreign nationals.

Central Bikol, commonly called Bikol Naga or simply Bikol, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Bicolanos, primarily in the Bicol Region of southern Luzon, Philippines. It is spoken in the northern and western part of Camarines Sur, the second congressional district of Camarines Norte, the eastern part of Albay, the northeastern part of Sorsogon, San Pascual town in Masbate, and the southwestern part of Catanduanes. Central Bikol speakers can be found in all provinces of Bicol, and it is a majority language in Camarines Sur. The standard sprachraum form is based on the Canaman dialect. The language has also speakers outside their native regional homeland, especially in Metro Manila, Mindoro, Palawan, and Mindanao (particularly in Mati, Davao Oriental)

Central Bikol features some vocabulary not found in other Bikol languages nor in other members of the Central Philippine language family like Tagalog and Cebuano. Examples are the words matua and bitis, which are the same as the Kapampangan words meaning 'older' and 'foot, feet', respectively. The word banggi ('night') is another example of this as it is different from the usual Bikol word gab-i but closer to the word bengi of Kapampangan. There is no formal study on the relationship of the Central Luzon languages to Central Bikol but the latter has several words that are also found in the archaic form of Tagalog spoken in the Rizal and Quezon provinces that are believed to be the home of Central Luzon languages such as Kapampangan in Pampanga and southern Tarlac, and Sambalic languages in Zambales province.