 The Spanish word is also used to describe a pathway or cluster of tables set up at some place of gathering such as a theatre, tournament or market, and it is from this latter sense that "palengke" likely derives its usage in the Filipino context.In the former Spanish colonies of New Spain in the Americas "palenque" also described a gathering-place of "indios".One false etymology for "palengke/palenque" appearing in some popular sources mistakenly presumes that "palenque" is instead a word from the indigenous Mayan languages of Central America meaning "gathering place", and that in colonial times the Spanish adopted it to describe a gathering of indigenous groups.