Chapter 2

CHILDHOOD DAYS
IN CALAMBA
• Jose Rizal, just like Filipino boys,
had many beautiful memories of
childhood.
• He have a happy home, filled
parental affection, impregnated with
family joys, and sanctified by prayers.with

• In the midst of such peaceful, refined,

God-loving family, he spent the early
years of his childhood.
 Calamba, the Hero’s
Town
• Calamba was an hacienda town which
belonged to the Dominican Order.

• It is a picturesque town nestling on a

verdant plain covered with irrigated rice
fields and sugar-lands.

• A few kilometers to the south looms is

the legendary Mount Makiling in
somnolent grandeur.
• Beyond this mountain is the province
of Batangas.

• East of the town is the Laguna de Bay.

• In the middle lake towers is the

storied island of Talim and beyond it
towards north is the distant
Antipolo, famous mountain shrine of
the miraculous Lady of Peace and
Good Voyage.
 Laguna

de

Bay

Batangas
• In 1876 when he was 15 years
old and was a student in the
Ateneo de Manila he
remembered his beloved town.

• He wrote a poem Un Recuerdo A

Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My
Town).
Ateneo de Manila
 EARLIEST CHILDHOOD
MEMORIES.
• The fi rst memory of Rizal, in
his infancy, was his happy
days in the family garden.

• Because he was frail, sickly,

and undersized child, he
was given the most tender
care by his parents.
• His father built a nipa cottage
in the garden for him to play in
the daytime.

• Another childhood memory

was the daily Angelus prayer.

• By nightfall, Rizal related, his

mother gathered all the children
at the house to pray the
• With nostalgic feeling, he
remembered also happy
nights
the at the azotea aftermoonlit
the rosary.

• The aya related stories to

Rizal children many stories about
fairies; tales of buried treasure
and trees with blooming diamonds,
and other fabulous stories.
• Sometimes, when he did not like to
take his supper, the aya would
treaten him that the aswang, the
nuno, the tigbalang, or a terrible
bearded Bombay would come to
take him away if he would not eat
his supper.

• Another memory of his infancy was

the nocturnal walk in the town,
especially when there was a moon.
• Recounting this
experience, childhood wrote:
heart
Rizal fed on sombre “Thus
and melancholy
my
thoughts so that even still a child, I
already wandered on wings of fantasy
in the high regions of the unknown.
 The Hero’s
First
• The Rizal children boun
were
Sorrow
together by the ties of d an
companionship.
love d

• Their parents taught them to

love one another, to behave
properly in front of elders, to be
truthful and religious, and to
help one another.
• They affectionately called their
father Tatay, and mother Nanay.

• Jose was jokingly called Ute

by his brother and sisters. The
people in Calamba knew him as
Pepe or Pepito.

• Of his sisters, Jose loved most

little Concha (Concepcion).
• He was one year older than Concha.

• He playedwith her, and from her,

he learned the sweetness of brotherly
love.

• Unfortunately, Concha died of

sickness in 1865 when he was 3
years old.

• Jose, who was very fond of her,

 Devoted Son
of Church
• Young Rizal was a religious boy.

• A scion of a Catholic clan, born

and bred in a wholesome
atmosphere of Catholicism, and
possessed of an inborn spirit,
Rizal grew up a good Catholic.
• At the age of 3, he began to take
part in the family prayers.

• When he was five years old, he

was able to read haltingly the
family bible.

• He loved to go to church to
pray, to take part in novenas,
and to join the religious
• It is said that he was so
seriously devout that he
was laughingly called
Manong Jose by the
Hermanos and Hermanas
Terceras.
• One of the men he esteemed
respect in Calamba and
ed during was Fath
his
boyhoo Lopez,
Leoncio the scholarly
the er
d
town priest.
Fathe
r
Leonc
io
Lopez
 Pilgrimage
to Antipolo
• On June 6, 1868, Jose and his father
left for Calamba to go on a
pilgrimage to Antipolo, in order to
fulfill his mother’s vow which was
made when Rizal was born.

• It was the first trip of Jose across

Laguna de Bay and his pilgrimage to
• He was thrilled, as a typical boy
should, by his first lake
voyage.

• He did not sleep the whole night

as the casco sailed towards the Pasig
River because he was awed by “ the
magnificence of the watery expanse
and the silence of the night.

• After praying at the shrine of the

 First Education
from
• Jose’s first teacher was his mother.
Mother
• At the age of 3, Jose learned the
alphabet and prayers from her.

• Seeing Rizal had a talent for

poetry, she encouraged him to write
poems. She gave her all her love
and all that she learned in college.
 The Story
of the
• Of the story told by Dona
Moth
Teodora to Jose, it was that of
the young moth made the
profoundest impression on him.

• The tragic fate of the young

moth, which died a martyr to its
illusions, left a deep impress on
 Rizal’s
Three
Uncles
• There were 3 uncles,
brothers of his mother, who
played a great part in the
early education of Rizal.
• Uncle Gregorio was a
lover of books.

• He instilled into the mind

of his nephew a great love
for books.

• He taught him to work

• Uncle who had been
Jeducated
ose, at Calcutta, India,
was the youngest brother
of Dona Teodora.

• He encouraged his nephew

to paint, sketch, and sculpture.
• Uncle Manuel was a big, strong, and husky man.

• He looked after the physical training of his

sickly and weak nephew.

• He encourage Rizal to learn swimming,

fencing, wrestling, and other sports, so that in
later years Rizal’s frail body acquired agility,
endurance, and strength.
 Artistic
Talents
• Since early childhood Rizal revealed
his god-given talents for the arts.

• He drew sketches and pictures on

his books of his sisters, for which
reason he was scolded by his
mother.
• He carved figures animals
of persons out of and
wood.
• Even before he learned to
read, he could already
sketch pictures of birds,
flowers, fruits, rivers,
mountains, animals and persons.

• Jose had a soul of a genuine

• Rather an introvert child,
with a skinny physique and
sad dark eyes, he found great
joy looking at the blooming
flowers, the ripening fruits, the
dancing waves of the lake,
and the milky clouds in the
sky; and the listening to the
songs of the birds, the
chirpings of the cicadas, and
• He loved to ride on a spirited
pony ( which his father
bought for him) or take
long walks in the
meadows for him) or take
long walks in the
meadows and lakeshore
with his big black dog
named Usman.
• In his room, he kept many
statuettes which he made out of
clay and wax.

• At one time, his sisters teased

him: “Ute, what are you doing
with so many statuettes?” He
replied: “ Don’t you know that
 Prodigy of
•
the P e n
Not onlywas l ittle Jo se
skilled in brush, chisel, and
pen-knife, but also in pen.

• He was born poet.

• His mother
• At an early age when
children usually begin to
learn ABC, he was already
writing poems.

• The first known poem

that he wrote was a Tagalog
poem entitled Sa Aking
Mga Kababata (To My
Fellow Children).
• Before he was eight years old,
he wrote a Tagalog drama.

• This drama was stages in Calamba

in connection with the town fiesta.
 Lakeshore
•Reveries
During the twilight
hours of summertime,
Riz al, accompanied by his
dog, used to meditate
at the shore
Laguna Bay of
on the
de sadhis
of
condition oppressed
• Young that he was, he
grieved deeply over the
unhappy situation of his
beloved fatherland.

• The Spanish misdeeds

awakened in his boyish
heart a great
determination to fight
 I n f l u e n c e s on
Hero’s B o y h o o d
• In the lives of all men there are
influences which cause some to be
great and others not. In the case
of Rizal, he had all favorable
influences, which no other child
in our country enjoyed.
Hereditary Influence

• According to biological science th

ere
are inherent qualities which a per
son inherits from
ancestors and parents.
• From Malayan ancestors,
Rizal evidently, inherited his
love for freedom, his innate
desire to travel and his
indomitable courage.

• From Chinese ancestors he

derived his serious nature,
frugality, patience and love for
children.
• From ancestors he got his
elegance of bearing, sensitivity to
Spanish
insult and gallantry to ladies.

• From his father he inherited a profound

sense of self-respect, the love for work
and the habit of independent thinking.

• And from his mother his religious

nature, the spirit of self-sacrifice and
the passion for arts and literature
ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCE
• According to psychologist, environment as
well as heredity affects the nature of a
person.

• It includes places, associates and events.

• The beautiful scenic of Calamba and the

beautiful garden of the Rizal family
stimulated the inborn artistic and literary
talents of Jose Rizal.
• The religious atmosphere at his
home fortified his religious nature.

• His brother Pacianoinstilled

in his mind the love for
freedom and justice.

• From sistershe learned to be

courteous and kind to women.

• The fairy tales told by his aya

awakened his interest in folklore and
• Father Leoncio Lopez a parish priest in
Calamba fostered Rizal’s love for
scholarship and intellectual honesty.

• The sorrows in his family such as death

of Concha in 1865 and
the imprisonment of his mother in
187-74 contributed to strengthen his
character, enabling him to resist blows
adversity in later years.
• The Spanish abuses and cruelties
which he witnessed in his boyhood
such as brutal acts if the lieutenant
of the Guardia Civil and the alcalde,
the unjust tortures inflicted on
innocent Filipinos and the execution
of Fathers Gomez, Burgos and
Zamora in 1872 awakened his spirit of
patriotism and inspired him to
consecrate his life and talents to
redeem his oppressed people.
Aid of Divine
Providence
• Greater heredity
environment
than the and
man is in fateDivin
of
the
Providenc ai of e
e. d
• A person may have everything in life
brains, wealth, and power but
without the aid of Divine Providence
ne cannot attain greatness in the
annals of the nation.

• Rizal was providentially destined to

be the pride and glory of his nation.

• God had endowed him with the

versatile gifts of a genius, the vibrant
spirit of a nationalist and the valiant
heart to sacrifice for a noble cause.
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