Chapter 2Childhood Years in Calamba

Biñan

Calamba, the Hero’s Town• Calamba was an hacienda

town which belonged to the Dominican Order, which also owned all the lands around it. It is a picturesque town nestling on a verdant plain covered with irrigated ricefields and sugar-lands.

Mount Makiling

Laguna de Bay

• An inland lake of songs and emerald waters beneath the canopy of azure skies.

Island of Talim

Antipolo

• Famous mountain shrine of the miraculous Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.

Earliest Childhood Memories• The first memory of Rizal was his happy days

in the family garden when he was 3 years old.

• Second childhood memory of Rizal was the daily Angelus Prayer.

• Third childhood memory was the nocturnal walk in the town, when there was a moon.

The Hero’s First Sorrow• In 1865, Concha (Concepcion) died of

sickness at the age of three.

Devoted Son of the Church • At the age of three, he began to take part

in the family prayers.

• When he was five years old, he was able to read haltingly the Spanish family Bible.

• He loved to go to church, to pray, to take part in novenas, and to join the religious processions.

• He was so seriously devout that he was launghingly called Manong Jose by the Hermanos and Hermanas Terceras.

• The scholarly Father Leoncio Lopez, the town priest that he used to visit and listen to his stimulating opinions on current events and sound philosophy of life.

• Jose learned to write and read thru a private tutor Maestro Celestino and the second Maestro Lucas Padua.

• Leon Monroy a former classmate of Rizal’s Father became the boy’s tutor

Pilgrimage to Antipolo• On June 6, 1868, Jose and his father left

Calamba to go on a pilgrimage to Antipolo, in order to fulfill his mother’s vow which was made when Jose was born.

• After praying at the shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo, Jose and his father went to Manila. They visited Saturnina, who was then a boarding student at La Concordia College in Santa Ana.

Artistic Talent• Since early childhood

Rizal revealed his God-given talent for art.

• At the age of five, he began to make sketches with his pencil and to mould in clay and wax objects which attracted his fancy.

First Poem by Rizal• Since early boyhood he

had scribbled verses on loose sheets of paper and on the textbooks of his sisters.

• At the age of eight, Rizal wrote his first poem in the native language entitled Sa Aking Mga Kababata (To My Fellow Children)

Rizal as Boy Magician• Since early manhood Rizal had been interested in

magic. He learned various tricks such as making a coin appear or disappear in his fingers and making a handkerchief vanish in thin air.

• He entertained his town folks with magic-lantern exhibitions.

• He also gained skill in manipulating marionettes (puppet show).

• In later years when he attained manhood, he continued his keen predilection for magic. He read many books on magic and attended the performances of the famous magicians of the world.

• In chapter XVII and XVIII of his second novel, El Filibusterismo (Treason), he revealed his wide knowledge of magic.

Influences on the Hero’s Boyhood1. Heredity Influence: • Malayan ancestors- love for freedom,

innate desire to travel and indomitable courage.• Chinese ancestors- serious nature,

frugality, patience and love for children.• Spanish ancestors- elegance of bearing,

sensitivity to insult and gallanty to ladies.

• Father- Profound sense of respect, the love for work and the habit of independent thinking.

• Mother- religious nature, the spirit of self-sacrifice and the passion for arts and literature.

2. Environmental Influences:• The scenic beauties of Calamba and the

beautiful garden of the Rizal family- inborn artistic and literary talents of Jose Rizal.

• The religious atmosphere at his home- religious nature.

• Brother, Paciano- love for freedom and justice.

• Sisters- courteous and kind to women.• Aya (Nurse Maid)- interest in folklore and

legends.• Tito Jose Alberto- artistic ability.• Tito Manuel- frail walking and wrestling.• Tito Gregorio- voracious reading of good

books.

• Father Leoncio Lopez- love for scholarship and intellectual honesty.

• Sorrows in his family- character, enabling him to resist blows of adversity in late years.

3. Aid of Divine Providence:• God- versatile gifts of a genius, the vibrant

spirit of nationalism and the valiant heart to sacrifice for a noble cause.

Biñan Laguna

Biñan Laguna

• First Teacher in Biñan of Pepe Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz

• Pepe lived in a small hut about 30 meters from the home of the aunt.

• Jose used to wear a sinamay shirt,woven by the skilled hands of the women of Batangas.

• Jose challenged Pedro to a fight• First Painting lesson by a painter Juancho

Injustice to Hero’s Mother

• Before June of 1872,tragedy struck the Rizal family.Dona Teodora was suddenly arrested on a malicious charge that she and her brother.

• Jose Alberto wife was poison• Jose Alberto ,a rich Binan ilustrado ,had just

returned from a business trip in Europe. • After arresting Dona Teodora, the sadistic

Spanish Lieutenant forced her to walk from Calamba to Santa Cruz a distance of 50 kilometers.