CHAPTER 2 – CHILDHOOD YEARS IN CALAMBA

Aiveth Faye M. Salvana

Pearl Andrea Karlsson

 Jose Rizal had many beautiful memories of childhood in his native

hometown.

Rizal grew up in a happy home, ruled by good parents, and sanctified by God’s
blessings. His hometown, Calamba was a fitted cradle for a hero because of its scenic
beauty, its industrious, hospitable and friendly folks that profoundly affected his mind
and character that made him who he is as our hero.

 Calamba, is a picturesque town nestling on a verdant plain covered with

irrigated rice fields and sugar-lands.
 South – Mount Makiling beyond it is Batangas
 East – Laguna de Bay in the middle of lake towers in storied island of Talim
 North – Antipolo Miraculous Lady of Peace and Good Voyage

 Rizal wrote a poem entitle Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town)

Rizal loved Calamba with all his heart and soul. In 1876, He was 15 years old studying in
Ateneo de Manila and he remember and missed his hometown that enables him to wrote a
poem entitled Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town)

 Realization of the Poem

He fondly reminisces about his hometown and its natural surroundings including the lagoons,
rivers, lake, woodlands that he experience during his childhood years in Calamba

 Rizals Childhood Memory

Rizal was a frail, sickly, and undersize child that is why he was given the tenderest care by his
parents. He even had his yaya to take care more of him.

Watched from his garden cottage the different birds and listened to their twilight songs

Rizal also remembers the daily Angelus prayer,

the happy moon nights at the azotea after the nightly rosary, and

the nocturnal walk in the town, especially when there was a moon.
  The Hero’s first sorrow

Concha (Conception) died of sickness in 1865 when she was only three years old, Jose, at 4
years old, who was very fond of her cried bitterly at losing her. That is the first time he had shed
tears caused by love and grief.

 Devoted son of the church

He loved to go to church, to pray, to take part in novenas, and join processions and called him
Manong Jose.

At the age of 3 he began to take part in the family prayers.

At the age of 5 he was able to read haltingly the Spanish family bible.

Father Leoncio Lopez , town priest

 Pilgrimage to Antipolo

June 6, 1868 left Calamba to go on a Pilgrimage to Antipolo to fulfil his mother’s vow when Jose
was born.

It was the first trip of Jose across Laguna de Bay and his pilgrimage to Antipolo.

First time to see a beautiful sunrise and First time to see Manila

 The story of the moth

One night, his mother was teaching him to read a Spanish reader entitled “The Childrens
Friend” (El Amigos de los Ninos) and his mother became impatient with hearing Jose read so
poorly.

The tragic fate of the young moth, which “died a martyr to its illusions,” left a deep impression on
Rizal’s mind. He justified such noble death, asserting that “to sacrifice one’s life for it,” meaning
for an ideal, is “worthwhile.” Like the young moth, he was fated to die as a martyr for a noble
ideal

 Artistic talents

At the age of 5, he began to make sketches with his pencil and to mould in clay and wax objects
which attracted his fancy, When he was about 6 years old her sisters laughed at him for
spending so much time he said “all right laugh at me now! Someday when I die, people will
make monuments and images of me”

 First poem by Rizal entitled “Sa Aking Mga Kababata”

Means he proudly proclaimed that a people who truly love their native language will surely strive
for liberty. The poem reveals Rizal’s earliest nationalist sentiment.
  First drama by Rizal

Rizal was 8 years old when he first wrote his dramatic work which was Tagalog comedy it was
said that it was staged in Calamba festival and delightfully applauded by the audience.

A gobernadorcillo from Paete, a town in Laguna who happened to witness the show purchased
the manuscript for 2 pesos and was staged in Paete every fiesta of the town.

 Rizal as Bot Magician

1. Making coin disappear in his fingers

2. Handkerchief vanishing in the air

3. Magic lantern exhibitions – lamp casting shadow on a white screen

4. Twisted his fingers into shapes, making their enlarged shadows on the screen that
resembles animals.

5. Manipulated Marionettes (puppet show)

6. Read books on magic and attended performance of great magicians.

 Lakeshore reveries

In summer time Rizal likes to meditate at the lake shore of Laguna de Bay together with his dog
Usman.

Young though he was he grieved deeply over the unhappy situation of his fatherland.

The Spanish misdeeds awakened his boyish heart a great determination to fight tyranny

His letter to Marciano Ponce

“In view of these injustices and cruelties, although yet a child, my imagination was awakened
and I made a vow dedicating myself someday to avenge the many victims. With this idea in my
mind, I studied, and this is seen in all my writings, someday God will give me the opportunity to
fulfil my promise.”

 Influences on the hero’s boyhood

These influences were the following:

1. Hereditary influence

2. Environmental influence

3. Aid of Divine providence

Hereditary Influences:

Malayan Ancestors - Love for freedom, Desire to travel, and his indomitable courage

Chinese Ancestors - Serious nature, Frugality, Patience, and Love for children

Spanish Ancestors - Elegance of bearing, Sensitivity to insult, and Gallantry to ladies

Father - Sense of Self-respect, Love for Work, and Independent thinking

Mother - Religious nature, Spirit of Self-sacrifice, and passion for Arts and Literature

Environmental Influences:

 Scenic beauties of Calamba and the beautiful garden of the Rizal family stimulated
Rizal’s inborn artistic and literary talents
 Religious atmosphere at home – fortified his religious nature
 Paciano – instilled in his mind the love for freedom and justice
 From his sisters – he learned courtesy and kindness to women
 Fairytales told by his yaya – awakened his interest in folklore and legends
 Tio Jose Alberto who studied for 11 years in British School in Cakcutta, India then
travelled to Europe – inspired him to develop his artistic ability
 Tio Manuel – husky and athletic – encouraged him to develop his frail body through
exercise, walking, and wrestling
 Tio Gregorio – book lover – intensified Rizal’s love of reading books
 Fr. Leoncio Lopez – fostered Rizal’s love for scholarship and intellectual honesty
 Death of Concha (1865), imprisonment of his mother in 1871-1874 – strengthened his
character
 Spanish abuses, cruelties, brutal acts of guardia civil and the alcalde, tortures on
innocent Filipinos and execution of GOMBURZA (1872) awakened his patriotism

Aid of Divine Providence:

God endowed him with versatile gifts of genius, vibrant spirit of nationalistic and valiant heart for
a noble cause.