Christmas in Rizal’s El Fili

The book El Filibusterismo by Jose Rizal is a sequel to the novel Noli Me Tangere. Many of the characters are the same. Simoun in the Fili is actually Ibarra in Noli. However, he has been transformed into a revolutionary, ruthless, radical and vengeful hero in the Fili. Here he says: “Today, I have returned to destroy this system, precipitate its corruption, push it to the abyss where it runs insensate, even if I have to spill torrents of blood and tears.”

He goes further and he ends this segment of the book saying: “I am the judge come to punish a social system through its own crimes.”

Throughout the book, Rizal through Simoun continues his messages of oppression and the need to assert the rights of the Indios. Two of the stories are set during Christmas. I have chosen these two chapters as fitting for Christmas.

The first story is from the chapter “A Cochero’s Christmas Eve.” It starts with Capitan Basilio going home to his hometown of San Diego in Laguna. He reaches his destination on Christmas Eve just as a procession was going through the streets. He was delayed: “… losing many hours because the cochero, who had forgotten his cedula, was detained by the guardia civil, hit with some rifle butts and taken to the barracks to face the commandant.”

The description of the Christmas Eve procession was very detailed and interesting. However, it was the conversation between Basilio and the cochero that contained the true message of the novel. In one paragraph, the cochero said after observing the procession: “During the time of the saints there surely were no guardia civiles because with rifle butt strokes, one could not live long.”

The next topic between Basilio and the cochero was a mystery to Basilio and to me because we were not familiar with the legend it was based on. After seeing in the procession a black King Melchor wearing a crown and was a king like the other two Spaniards, the cochero thought of the King of the Indios. The conversation ensued in the following:

Cochero: “Do you know Señor if the right foot is free by now?”

Basilio: “The right foot? Whose?”

Cochero: “The King’s.”

Basilio: “Which King?”

Cochero: “Our King, the King of the Indios.”

It seems that at that time, the indios in the countryside had a legend that their king was imprisoned and jailed in the cave of San Mateo. One day, he was going to come and deliver the people from oppression. Every hundred years, he breaks one of his chains and he already has his hand and left foot loose and only the right foot remains chained. The indios call him King Bernardo, which comes from the legendary Bernardo Carpio.

The cochero finally says: “When the right foot is set free, I will give him my horses and I will place myself at his service and die for him. He will free us from the civiles.”

This is a vivid illustration of how Rizal conveyed his revolutionary message to the readers.

In another chapter entitled “Merry Christmas,” Rizal has a vivid description of Christmas Day and the children, which still ring true today, many years after he wrote it. He writes: “Christmas Day in the Philippines is, according to the elders, the feast for the children; perhaps children may not be of the same opinion, and it can be presumed that they have an instinctive fear of it. In effect, they are awakened early, they are washed, they are dressed and on them are put all that is new, expensive and precious that they own: clothes, silken boots, wide hats, costumes of wool, of silk, or of velvet… the children are taken to High Mass which lasts almost an hour… Afterwards, they are taken from house to house to visit relatives for the hand kissing. There they have to dance, to sing and to display all the graces they know whether they like it or not, whether they are comfortable or not in their attire, always with pinches and scoldings when they try to have their own way. The relatives give them cuartos which the parents take away and of which nothing is heard again… the grownups who live by themselves have a share of their own in the holiday. They visit their parents and uncles, bend a knee and wish them a Merry Christmas: their presents consist of a sweet, a fruit, a glass of water or some insignificant gift.”

In some ways, the description of the Christmas activities can still be observed in the present Christmas schedule of today’s Filipino families who celebrate Christmas in the traditional way of family gatherings.

I wish to thank my editor Doreen G. Yu and the staff of The Philippine STAR for their assistance and patience, enabling me to meet my deadlines.

I also want to wish my readers a very happy Christmas and joyful experiences during this season.