Early Education in Calamba and Biñan

CALAMBA BIÑAN
• First Teacher: Teodora Alonzo • June 1869-1870
• Lucas Padua • Maestro Justiniano Aquino
• Leon Monroy (an old man) Cruz
• A small nipa hut
• 30 meters from the home of
Jose's aunt.
Ateneo Municipal de Manila, Intramuros
Rizal’s Early Concept Patriotism (1875-
1882)
1875 1877 1878

• 1st yr in SHS • Graduates • Shifts to

@ the from the Medicine.
Ateneo de Ateneo in Begins
Manila. Also March. writing his
1st yr. as a • Enrolls in the memoirs.
boarder. University of
Santo Tomas
in the
Preparatory
Course of
Theology.
Rizal’s Early Concept Patriotism (1875-1882)
1879 1880 1882

• Wins first for El • May: secretly leaves

• Wins a consejo de los
Calamba for Spain to
complete his medical
special dioses, and studies, arriving in
allegory inb Barcelona on June 15.
prize for praise of • June: writes “El amor
patrio” for diariong
his ode, Cervantes. Tagalog.
“A la • During the long • Leaves Barcelona for
Madrid where he
juventud vacation in enrolls at the
Calamba, Rizal Universidad Central for
Filipina.” is struck in the the course leading to a
licentiate in Medicine.
back by a Enrolls as well in
lieutenant of Philosophy and Letters
the guardia civil and takes lessons in
painting and sculpture,
for failing to fencing, French,
doff his hat. English, and German.
The Development of Rizal’s Patriotic Sentiments

Pride in
Spain’s “El Amor
TO
Achievement Patrio
in History
 “My second year as a
boarder, were similar to
the first, except that my
patriotic sentiments
developed greatly…”

(Memoirs in UST)
 TAKE NOTE:
1. He did not date the increase of his
patriotic sentiments to 1872.
2. He did not date it either to his earlier
years in the Ateneo when he
experienced racism firsthand from
one of his teachers.
 Spain & the Philippines (Political/Geographical)

1570-1700 - The Philippines was a territory, with Fort Santiago and

multiple autonomous vassal native communities each independent
from the rest, distributed throughout Luzon, the Visayas, and the
northern coast of Mindanao.
Spain & the Philippines (Political/Geographical)

1700-1810
The Philippines
was a colony, a
foreign land
exploited to enrich
the mother
country.
Spain & the Philippines (Political/Geographical)

The Constitution changed

this status in 1810 (Cadiz
Constitution was passed in
1812), making the
Philippines, like all the other
colonis of Spain, a province
of Spain.
 Pride in Spain’s Achievement in History

El cautiverio y el triunfo (Capture and Victory)

La conquista de Granada (The Conquest of Granada)

“Colon y Juan II” (Columbus and John II)

“Gran Consuelo en la mayor desdicha”

(Great Consolation in the Greatest of Misfortunes).

Philippines as part of Spain

“
Rizal’s ‘patriotic sentiments’ in 1876
were the sentiments of a Spanish
citizen, which all native Filipinos were
at that time.
 The human person awakening to his social
dimension, discovering that he is part of a
community greater than the family and
greater even than the town or city to which he
belongs.

Aristtotelian
Concept
 As a child I was educated among
Spaniards; I was nourished on the great
examples of the history of Spain,
Greece, Rome...
• That pride presupposes a sense
of belonging to a community.
• That community is both Spain
and the Philippines.
• “A great increase in patriotic
sentiments” could only meant for
Rizal a more acute sense of
membership in this community.
• Subsequently, Rizal discovered
that the Philippines, on the other
hand, was in fact a national
community still waiting to be
built.
Un recuerdo a mi
pueblo
A la juventud 1880
El amor
Filipina
A Filipinas
patrio
Un recuerdo a mi pueblo (A Gift to My Town)
There is no mention of
homeland (“patria”) here,
but “pueblo,” which is
here translated as
“town,” may certainly be
translated as
“hometown.”
“love of country” & “love
of one’s hometown:
“pagibig sa tinubuang
bayan”
Un recuerdo a mi pueblo (A Gift to My Town)

Rizal’s “future” concept of love of country are his love for

his hometown, its natural beauty, and his family.
A la juventud Filipina
• Rizal was 18, his 2nd year in UST, when he wrote the poem.
• The poem ,though not quite a literary masterpiece, was
cleverly composed and earnestly written.
• He joined a literary contest which had a section for natives
and mestizos.
• He won.
• He alludes to the poem in a literary masterpiece he wrote 16
years later (Mi retiro), identifying it as a milestone in his love
of country and proclaiming his return to the ideals it
expressed.
A la uventud Filipina
Level 1: General
• Rizal urges the Filipino
youth to “display in
splendor/[their] magnificent
talents” in response to “the
Spaniard” who offers a
“splendid crown” to the
best of them.
Level 2: Particular
• Rizal challenges the
young poet, composer,
sculptor, and painter to
each create works of
genius to win the general
acclaim of humanity.
A la juventud Filipina

In 1895, Rizal thought that A la juventud Filipina contained principles which he

abandoned when he first went to Europe; he returned to them during his exile in
Dapitan. It is important, therefore, to know what the poem says.
A la uventud Filipina: : Dedicated to the Filipino Youth
Line 2: Youth of the Philippines, on this day!

Implicit reference Explicit Reference

Line 16: See there in the
burning region
Line 20: To the child of this
lndian soil.
➢ based on L20, the poem is
specifically directed to
natives and mestizos.
Line 42: Of genius the laurel leaf is
waiting to
crown.
➢ The proper context in which to
interpret Rizal’s description of the
Spaniard as wise: the “splendid
crown” he offers is a clver attempt to
make the Filipino overcome his
timidity and produce works of artistic
genius.
A la juventud Filipina

Patria in L5 - Fair hope of my “homeland.”

➢A month after writing “A la juventud Filipina,” Rizal wrote a
poem entitled “Abd-el-Azis y Mahoma” on the Battle of
Covadonga, the first victory of Spaniards against the
Muslims in Spain.
➢“Patria” in L5 refers to Spain with the Philippines as an
integral part of it.
➢Rizal addresses the Philippine youth as Spanish citizens.
A la juventud Filipina

L14 & 15 - “the heavy chains/that hold down your

artistic genius.”
➢refers to the native Filipino’s timidity, his shyness.
In the Fili Rizal would identify timidity as one of the
most pernicious traits of the Filipino.
A la juventud Filipina
See there in the burning
region
Where shadows dwelt the
Spaniard
Offering a splendid crown
With a loving and wise hand
To the child of this lndian
soil.
• “pia” (Latin) - denotes the
love children have for their
parents and parents for
their children.
➢ “A la juventud Filipina” is to
encourage the Philippine
youth to contribute to Spanish-
Philippine society by
producing works of art marked
by genius.
A la juventud Filipina
L16 & 17 - “the burning region/where shadows dwelt.”
•“Burning” region refers to the tropics;
•“Shadows” was a common metaphor for lack of education
 Education
Gives Luster to
Motherland
Por La Educación
(Recibe Lustre La
Patria).
Rizal extols the
citizenry to strive
towards education
in order to give
glory to the country.
Education Gives Luster to Motherland
Education Gives Luster to Motherland
 Racism
• In “A la juventud Filipina”: the artistic contributions of the
Philippine youth would be works of genius. Rizal
dedicates an entire stanza to this point and one stanza
each to poetry, music, sculpture, and painting to show that
the works he has in mind would win fame not only in
Spain but throughout the world.
➢Rizal from an early age was aware of Spanish racism and
thought it unfair.
 Racism

• The betwæn Spaniards was separate from the

competition native and mæstizo it was considered unwise
to have a non-white defeating a white in any competition.
A Filipinas (To the Philippines)

• Written no more than two

months after "A la juventud
Filipina" and less than two
months after the poem on
Covadonga.It is a
transmutation of a personal
experience earlier: his first trip
to Manila in the company of
his father. It was still dark
when they began to cross the
lake by boat.
 A Filipinas (To the Philippines)

"With what joy did I see the sun rise.

For the first time I saw how the
luminous rays struck, producing a
brilliant effect, the trembling surface of
the vast lake." 12 Rizal was seven
when he first saw the sun rise across
the lake and 17 when he described that
first experience in his memoirs.
A Filipinas (To the Philippines)

the conversion of lake, sky, mountains,

and fields into "Filipinas," into a country
to which he was personally related
(Calamba and its
beauty was an important part of it)-this
was something new. Rizal continued to
see himself as a Spanish citizen, but now
with an ardent love for his part of Spain.
His apprehension of Spain as patria was
about to be challenged.
1880
1. April 1880
➢ Rizal entered another literary competition andwon first prize
➢ When the audience discovered that a native had won, the
applause was replaced by hisses.
➢ The bitterness almost certainly stemmed from his earlier "patriotic
sentiments."
➢ "A la Juventud Filipina" expressed his desire to contribute to
Spanish-Philippine society, but instead of the fame the poem
looked forward to as prize for excellence in the arts, there was
rejection.
2. April 1880
➢ Rizal was in Calamba during the long vacation. Hurrying through
the street in the deepening dusk, he felt a sudden blow on the
back.
3. Latter part of 1880 (December 8)
➢ Rizal wrote a zarzuela – Junto al Pasig - for the celebration of the
feast of Immaculate Conception at the Ateneo de Manila.
➢ The main character, Leonido arrives too late for a meeting with his
classmates before the procession in honor of the Virgin of Antipolo. Satan
appears to him disguised as a diwata and proceeds to tempt him to renounce
his Christian faith, in exchange for which Satan will liberate native Filipinos
from Spaniards. Leonido Satan, and angels come to battle Satan and his
demons.
➢ The use of “Diwata” – a Visayan nature spirit
➢ In Junto al Pasig, “Diwata” means a god the ancestors of native
Filipinos worshipped.
➢ Historians observed:
▪ Satan’s description of the Philippines as a paradise ruined by
Spaniards anticipates Rizal’s description of the Philippines in his
annotation of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.
▪ Satan’s denunciation of the Spaniards as oppressors anticipates
Rizal’s later anti-Spanish writings.
➢ Junto al Pasig may be interpreted as a dramatization of a crisis
that Rizal went through as a result of his two traumatic
experiences in 1880 – a crisis of patriotic sentiments!
EL AMOR PATRIO: LOVE OF COUNTRY
 EL AMOR PATRIO: LOVE OF COUNTRY
• There is no longer pride in
the achievements of Spain
instead, there is a heady
love for the natural beauty
of the country, including its
weather.
• “homeland” – refers to the
Philippines, Spain is
another country, another
people.
• Self-sacrifice: the
homeland demands
nothing less than this.
• When the homeland is in
danger, all are ready to die
for her: love for the
homeland gives a sense of
community.