Jose Rizal had many beautiful memories

of childhood in his native town. He grew up in a

happy home, ruled by good parents, bubbling
with joy, and sanctified by God’s blessings.
 His natal town of Calamba, so named after a
big native jar.
 It’s scenic beauties and it’s industrious,
hospitable, and friendly folks impressed him
during his childhood years and profoundly
affect his mind and character.
 The happiest period of Rizal’s life was spent in
this lakeshore town, a worthy prelude to his
Hamlet-like tragic manhood.
Calamba, the Hero’s Town
Calamba was an hacienda town which belong 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 rice fields and
sugar-lands.
 A few kilometers to the south looms the legendary
Mount Makiling in somnolent, grandeur, and
beyond this mountain is the province of Batangas.
 East of the town is the Laguna de Bay.
 In the middle of the lake towers the storied island of
Talim, and beyond it towards the north is the distant
Antipolo, famous mountain shrine of the miraculous
Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.
Rizal loved Calamba with all his heart and soul. In
1896, when he was 15 years old and was a student in the
Ateneo de Manila, he remembered his beloved town.
Accordingly, he wrote a poem un Recuerdo A mi Pueblo
(In Memory of My Town).
Earliest Childhood Memories.
The first memory of Rizal, in his infancy, was his
happy days in the family garden when he was three years
old, he was given the tenderest care by his parents. His
father built a little nippa cottage in the garden for him to
play in the day-time.
 A kind old woman was employed as an aya (nurse maid)
to look after his comfort. At times, he was left alone to
muse on the beauties of nature to play by himself.
 In his boyhood memoirs, he narrated how he, at the age
of three, watched from his garden cottage, the culiauan,
the maya, the maria capru, the martin, the pipit, and
other birds and listened “with wonder and joy” to their
twilight songs”
 Another childhood memory was the daily Angelus
prayer. By nightfall, Rizal related, his mother gathered
all the children at the house to pray the Angelus.
 With nostalgic feeling, he also remembered the happy
moonlight nights at the azotea after the nighly rosary.
 The aya related to the Rizal children (including Jose)
many stories about the fairies; tales of buried treasure
and trees blooming with diamonds and other fabulous
stories.
 Another memory of his infancy was the nocturnal walk
in the town, especially when there was a moon. The aya
took him for a walk in the moonlight by the river, where
the trees cast grotesque shallows on the bank.
The Hero’s First Sorrow.
The Rizal children were bound together by ties of
love and companionship. They were well bred for their
parents taught them to love and help one another.

Devoted Son of the Church

A scion of a catholic clan, born and bred in a
wholesome atmosphere of Catholicism, and possessed of
an inborn pious spirit, Rizal grew up a good Catholic.
At the age of three, he began to take part in the
family prayers. His mother, who was a devout Catholic,
taught him the Catholic 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 art in novenas,
and to join the religious processions. It is said that he
was so seriously devout that he was laughingly called
Manong Jose by the Hermanos and Mermanas Terceras.
 One of the men he esteemed and respected in Calamba
during his boyhood was the scholarly Father Leoncio
Lopez, the town priest.

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. Doña
Teodora could not accompany them because she had
given birth to Trinidad.
 It was the first trip of Jose across Laguna de Bay and
his first pilgrimage to Antipolo. He and his father rode
in a casco (barge). He was thrilled, as a typical boy
should, by his first lake voyage. He did not slee the
whole night as the casco sailed towards the Pasig River.
 After praying at the of the Virgin of Antipolo, Jose and
his father went to Manila. It was the first time Jose saw
Manila. They visited Saturnina, who was then a
boarding student at La Concordia College in Santa
Ana.
The Story of the Moth.
Of the stories told by Doña Teodora to her favorite
son, Jose, 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
mind. He justified such noble death, asserting that “to
sacrifice one’s life for it,” meaning for an ideal, is
“worthwhile.” And, like that young moth, he was fated to
die as a martyr for a noble idea.
 Artistic Talents.
 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 mold in clay and wax objects which
attracted his fancy.
 It is said that one day, when Jose was a mere boy in
Calamba. A religious banner which was always used during
the fiesta was spoiled. Upon the request of the town mayor,
he painted in oil colors a new banner that delighted the
town folks because it was better than the original one.
 Jose had the soul of a genuine artist.
 Jose Rizal want to take long walks in the meadows and
lakeshore with his black dog named Usman.
One interesting anecdote about Rizal was the
incident about his clay and wax images. One day when he
was about six years old his sister laughed at him for
spending so much time making those images rather than
participating in their games. He kept silent as they
laughed with childish glee.

First Poem by Rizal.

Aside from his sketching and sculpturing talent,
Rizal possessed a God-given gift for literature. Since early
boyhood he had scribbled verses on loose sheets of paper
and on the textbooks of his sister’s. His mother, who was a
lover of literature, noticed his poetic inclination and
encouraged him to write poetry.
At the age of eight, Rizal wrote his first poem in
the native language entitled Sa Aking Mga Kababata (To
My Fellow Children).
This poem reveals Rizal’s earliest nationalist
sentiment. In poetic verses, he proudly proclaimed that
a people who truly love their native language will surely
strive for liberty like “the bird which soars to freer space
above” and that Tagalog is the equal of Latin, English,
Spanish, and any other language.
 First Drama by Rizal.
After writing the poem To My Fellow Children, Rizal,
who was then eight years old, wrote his first dramatic work
which was a Tagalog comedy. It is said that it was staged in
a Calamba festival and was delightfully applauded by the
audience.
A gobernadorcillo from Paete, a town in Laguna
famous for lanzones and woodcarvings, happened to
witness the comedy and like it so much that he purchased
the manuscript for two pesos and brought it to his
hometown. It was staged in Paete during its town fiesta.

 Rizal as Boy Magician.
Since early manhood Rizal had been interested in
magic. With his dexterous hands, 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.
This consisted of an ordinary lamp casting its
shadow on a white screen. He twisted his supple fingers
into fantastic shapes, making their enlarged shadows on
the screen resemble certain animals and persons. He also
gained skill in manipulating marionettes (puppet shows).

 In Chapter XVII and XVIII of his second novel, El

Filibusterismo (Treason), he revealed his wide
knowledge of magic.
Lakeshore Reveries.
During the twilight hours of summertime Rizal,
accompanied by his pet dog, used to meditate at the
shore of Laguna de Bay on the sad conditions of his
oppressed people.
Young though 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 tyranny.
Influences on the Hero’s Boyhood.
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 the favourable influences, few other children in
his time enjoyed. These influences were the following: (1)
Hereditary Influence, (2) Environmental Influence, and (3)
aid of Divine Providence.
 Hereditary Influence
According to biological science, there are inherent
qualities which a person inherits from his ancestors or
parents.
 Environmental Influence
According to psychologists, environment, as well as
heredity, affects the nature of a person.
 Rizal family stimulated the inborn artistic and literary
talents of Jose Rizal.
 His brother, Paciano, instilled in his mind the love for
freedom and justice.
 For his sisters, he learned to be courteous and kind to
women. And the fairy tales told by his aya during his
early childhood.
 His three uncles, the brothers of his mother named Tio
Alberto who had studied for eleven years in a british
schol in Calcutta, India and had travelled in Europe
inspired him to develop his artistic ability. Tio Manuel, a
husky and athletic man and Tio Gregorio, a book lover ,
intensified his voracious reading of good books.
 Father Leoncio Lopez, the old and learned parish
priest of Calamba, fostered Rizal’s love for scholarship
and intellectual honesty.
 Aid of Divine Providence
Greater than heredity and environment in the fate
of the man is the aid of Divine Providence. A person may
have everything in life- brains, wealth, and power- but,
without the aid of Divine Providence, he cannot attain
greatness in the annals of the nation.