RIZAL AND HIS CHILDHOOD YEARS IN CALAMBA

Yap, Apple Joyce Soliman, Stacey Samantha Balingit, Patricia Mae

JOSE RIZAL

alamba is an enchanted town enclosed in a valley between Laguna de Bay and Mt. Makiling, with green landscapes and scenic views. Calamba was an agricultural town, specializing in the production of sugar, and practically owned by the Dominican friars. Tenants were given had a hard time then. In this picturesque town filled with different crops to harvest was born a young boy named Jose. Jose was born on June 19, 1861. During his delivery, his mother nearly died because of his very big head. Three days after his birth, Jose was baptized at the Calamba Catholic Church by Father Rufino Collantes, with Father Pedro Casanas as his godfather.

RIZAL FAMILY

ose was the seventh child in the family of 11 children of Don Francisco and Dona Teodora.

There were Saturnina (1850), Paciano, (1851), Narcisa (1852), Olimpia (1855), Lucia (1857), Maria (1859), Jose (1861), Concepcion (1862), Josefa (1865), Trinidad (1868) and Soledad (1870). Joses ancestry was very diverse. His great grandfather was a Chinese merchant named Domingo Lamco who married a Chinese mestiza, Ines dela Rosa. They changed their name to Mercado. From Manila, they moved to Binan where they had a son, Juan Mercado. He became a gobernadorcillo of Binan and married a Chinese Filipina mestiza, Cirila Alejandrina. They had 14 children, one of whom was Joses father Don Francisco.

Joses great grandfather on his mothers side was Manuel de Quintos a Chinese mestizo from Lingayen. He married Regina Ursua, a Filipina with Japanese ancestry. One of their daughters, Brigida married Lorenzo Alberto Alonso, and had a daughter, Teodora, who became Joses mother. Joses family was typically middle class at that time. They lived a life of affluence and comfort. They valued education, lived in a house of adobe and hardwood, owned a carriage and horses, symbols of wealth and respectability then, a vast home library, even personal servants and private home tutoring.

The family also had a thriving business in rice and sugar. They were even able to send the children for further education in Manila. Truly, their family was, at that time, considered higher in status than most of the Filipinos.

DON FRANCISCO

DONA TEODORA

Don Francisco Mercado was an educated man. He took courses at the Colegio de San Jose. Jose described him as a model father because of his honesty, frugality and industry. He became a tenant at the Dominican hacienda in Calamba. From Francisco, Jose inherited a sense of dignity, self-respect, serenity, poise, and seriousness.

Dona Teodora Alonso was also educated. She completed her studies in Colegio de Santa Rosa, a prestigious college for girls. Jose described her as a disciplinarian, a woman of more than average education, culture and religion, and a sacrificing and industrious housewife. From her, Jose inherited a practical temperament, stoicism, self-sacrifice, temperament of a dreamer, and fondness for poetry.

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

FIRST SORROW

ose had a happy and comfortable childhood in Calamba, exchanging stories in the family garden, and was given special care by his parents due to his poor health. Because of this garden, he had a fondness for nature. Family activities included praying the Angelus together daily. Jose deeply treasured the times when his personal servant would tell him stories and legends in the azotea after the prayer. These stories made the young boy interested in legends and folklores. Rizal was a religious young boy because of his mother. At the age of three, he already knew how to read the Bible. Frequent visits from Father Leoncio Lopez further strengthened his religion, scholarship and intellectual honesty.

When Jose was four, Concepcion, whom Jose calls Concha, died. It was the first time that he cried, as Concha taught him the importance of sisterly love. In Calamba, Jose was able to witness the acts of cruelty and violence that the Guardia Civil did on his fellow Filipinos. He would sit out on the shore of Laguna de Bay, thinking of what was beyond the waves, and if the incidents in Calamba also happened across the Bay. Jose was a very observant young boy, noting every detail of what he saw. The observations he made in his early years strongly shaped his political and social ideas.

THE MOTH AND THE FLAME

One of the fables his mother told him was of The Moth and the Flame:
Once upon a time, an old moth had warned her daughter against the flame, so beautiful, so invitingm yet fatal and deceitful for it destroyed whoever came too close. She herself, said, had once been tempted bu it; she had barely escaped with half-burnt wings. The frightened young moth promised to obey, but was soon asking herself: Now why should by mother try to give me such a scare? Why should I close my eyes to such a pretty sight? These old people are such cowards! They think every fly an elephant, any old dwarf a giant. What harm can it do me, whatever she says, if I come near the flame, so long as I am careful? What am I, a little silly? What a story I shall have for all the other girls if I, being very careful of course, take a closer look. No sooner said than done, and the silly little moth went fluttering round the flame. At first she only felt pleasantly warm; this encouraged her and she flew closer and closer until at last, dazzled by the flame, fell and perished in it.

For young Jose, the moth died in search of the beautiful light. He knew that the moth was a victim but he realized the sweetness in dying for it. It is very much like Joses would-be life. Just like the moth, he died in search of truth, freedom and justice. Because of the story of the moth, Jose realized that one has to sacrifice and suffer the consequence of ones action for the attainment of a goal.

EARLY DEMONSTRATION OF TALENTS

ose was clearly a smart young boy. At age three, he was able to master the alphabet and showed great interested in reading, with his mother (his reading teacher and critic) in the family library.

He also had a knack for sketching, painting, sculpture and literature, because of the beauty of Calamba and his admiration for his mother. Rizal wrote his first poem at age eight, entitled Sa Aking Kababata or To My Fellow Children. This shows that at an early age, Jose already had a concept of nationalism. He showed that love for the national language with the desire for freedom. He called upon his fellow youth to love their native tongue.

A self-portrait of Jose, drawn later on in his life, depicting his knack for sketching.

FIRST TASTE OF INJUSTICE

s a young boy, Jose was able to witness the cruelties that the Filipinos suffered from the Guardia Civil and spent a lot of time thinking why people had to undergo them.

Because of this event, Jose acquired a hatred for the Spanish regime, and lost confidence in friendship and trust of his fellowmen, as most of Dona Teodoras arrestors were frequent visitors at home.

Upon the unjust arrest and incarceration of his mother in 1871, Jose was woken up to the injustice of the Spanish regime. Upon helping to fix the marriage of her uncle, Dona Teodora was accused of trying to poison her uncles wife. She was made to walk 50 km from Calamba to Santa Cruz, and was jailed for 2 and a half years. The family attempted to get her released, but it was only when the graceful dancing of Soledad charmed the governor-general was Dona Teodora freed from prison.

Jose was 11 when his brother Paciano narrated to him the injustice suffered by the three Filipino priests, particularly Father Burgos, his teacher at Colegio de San Jose. This event redemption not for this member of Philippines. later inspired Jose to seek for the oppressed Filipinos. If event, Jose would have been a the Society of Jesuits in the

Jose would go on to write El Filibusterismo later, and write an emphatic and heartfelt dedication to the three priests (p.60). GOMBURZA

PREPARATION FOR FORMAL SCHOOLING

studies in Europe. His training as an illustrado explains why Jose did not have any real consciousness of the magnitude of the suffering that people went through. He grew up detached from the masses, and so, did not understand the needs and aspirations of the common Filipino.

Dona Teodora, Joses mother, was his first teacher. At an early age, Jose showed a knack of learning the alphabet, prayers and poetry. She encouraged young Jose to write verses. Later, she hired private tutors that taught him at home. His first private tutor was Maestro Celestino, then Maestro Lucas Padua. His third tutor was Leon Monroy who further honed his skill in reading, writing, and rudiments of Latin. Jose, just like other principalia children, was trained to become a middle-class illustrado. First came the privat tutors, then a private secondary school, then to university for a college degree, and finally, completing his