EARLY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

AND EARLY EDUCATION IN

CALAMBA

• Calamba is indeed, the cradle of genius

• “Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo”

( In Memory of My Town )

- the first poem written by Rizal when he was 15

Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo

(Kalamba – Laguna)

Cuando recuerdo los días,Que vieron mi edad primeraJunto a la verde riberaDe un lago mumurador;Cuando recuerdo el susurroDeFavonio que mi frenteRecreba dulcementeCondelicioso frescor;

Cuando miro el blanco lirioHenchir con ímpetu el vintoY el tempestuoso elementoManso en la arema dormir;Cuando aspiro de las floresGrataesencia embriagadora,Que exhalan cuando la auroraNos comienza a sonreír;

Recuerdo, recuerdo tristeTu faz, infancia preciosa,Que una madre cariñosa¡Ay! consiguió embellecer.Recuerdo un pueblo sencillo,Mi contento, dicha y cuna,Junto a la fresca lagunaAsiento de mi quere.

¡Oh! si mi insegura plantaHolló tus bosques sombríos,Y en las costas de tus rios,Hallégrata diverión;Oré en tu rústico temploDeniño, con fe sencilla,Y tu brisa sin mancillaAlegró mi corazón.

Vi al Creador en la grandezaDe tus selvas seculares;En tu seno los pesaresNunca llegué a conocer;Mientras tu azulado cieloMiré, ni amor ni ternuraMe faltó, que en la NaturaSecifraba mi placer.

¡Niñez tierna, pueblo hermoso,Rica fuente de alegrías,De armoniosas melodías,Queahuyentan el pesar!¡Volvedal corazón mío,Volved mis horas suaves,Volved, cual vuelven las avesDe las flores al brotar!

Mas ¡ay! Adiós! Vele eternoPor tu paz, dicha y reposo,Genio del bien, que bondosoSus dones da con amor;Por tí mis fevientes votos,Por tí mi constante anheloDe aprender, y ¡plege al cieloConservase tu candor!

• His first sorrow was the death of little Concha

(Concepcion) who died when she was 3 years old

• He was called “Manong Jose” (7 years old)

– Pious and son of the Catholic Church

I. EARLY EDUCATIONIN CALAMBA

•“She taught me how to read and say haltingly the humble prayers which I fervently to God”

-His father Francisco kept an old man Leon Monroy in the family for many months for the purpose of teaching the boy the beginnings of Latin

*Maestro Celestino and Maestro Lucas Padua

- private tutors at home

*at the age of 5

- he began to draw with his pencil and mould in wax or clay any object

- he has painting ability

- he’s good in playing magic tricks and skills in manipulating puppets

*when he was about 6 years old

-his sisters laughed at him while

spending so much time making those

images rather than participating in their

games. He told them:

“all right laugh at me now! Someday when I

die, people will make monuments and images of

me!”

*Father Leoncio Lopez

II. THE STORY OF THEMOTH

• “ See that you do not behave like the little young moth. Don’t be disobedient, or you may get burnt as it did?”

III. EARLYEDUCATION IN BIÑAN

-Rizal described his teacher as “tall, thin, long-necked man, with sharp nose and body bent slightly forward”

-an old painter who owned a shop (painting), where Rizal learned painting- he gave Rizal lessons in drawing and paintings.

* Juanco

IV. LITERARYTALENTS

-at the age of 8

I as an appeal to his countrymen to love their national language.

“Sa Aking mga Kabata” (To My Fellow Children)

-Rizal wrote a poem in Tagalog entitled

Kapagka ang baya’y sadyang umiibig

Sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit,

Sanglang kalyaan nasa ring masapit

Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid

Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salitaMahigit sa hayop at malansang isdaKaya ang marapat payamaning kusaNa tulad sa inang tunay na nagpala

Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din saLatin

Sa ingles, Kastila at salitang Anghel

Sapagkat ang Poong maalamtumingin

Ang siya’y naggawad, nagbigay saatin

Ang salita nati’y huwad din sa ibaNa may alfabeto at sarilingletra,Na kaya’y nawala’y dinatnanng sigwaAng lunday sa lawa noongdakong una.

V. FIRST TASTE OFINJUSTICE

The tragic incident happened in the family

-when his mother Doña Teodora was arbitrarily arrested on a malicious chargethat she allegedly aided her brother-Jose Alberto, in trying to poison Alberto’s wife

Rizal’s Mother: A victim of injustice

The police forced Doña Teodora to walk in barefoot nearly fifty kilometers over a rough road to the prison at Sta. Cruz

VI. AWAKENING OFJOSE RIZAL’S

CONCEPTON LOVE OF COUNTRY

•Jose found his brother Pacianodistracted over a ghastly tragedy

- the execution of the GOMBURZA

Paciano Mercado y Alonzo Realonda

-GOMBURZA were sentenced to death by means of GARROTE on

February 17, 1872, at Bagumbayan, Manila

-(GOMBURZA stands for the names of the three Filipino Priests:

*Fathers Mariano Gomez*Jose Apolonio Burgos

*Jacinto Zamora

-Paciano Rizal had loved and well-neigh worshipped Fr. Burgos,

“the most popular professor in the university.”