Instituto Cervantes commemorates Rizal’s 150th Birth Anniversary

Friday, 24 June 2011 12:00 Miraluna Tacadao

In honor of Jose Rizal’s 150^th anniversary, Instituto Cervantes de Manila celebrated it through choral poetry. ICM took part in many activities to pay tribute on the Filipino patriot’s birth anniversary last June 19.

Jose Protacio Rizal or fondly called by family and friends as “Pepe”, was born on June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna. He was the 7^th from the 11 children of Francisco Mercado Rizal and Teodora Alonzo Realonda. Rizal as a notable poet and novelist wrote the famous El Filibusterismo and Noli me Tangere.

ICM, the only official Spanish Government Language Center in the country celebrated the Día del Español (Day of the Spanish language). Part of the celebration is the choral reading of Rizal’s famous poem, “Mi ultimo adios (The Last Farewell)”.

Dubbed as Palabra de Rizal, around 100 Spanish-speaking residents, Spanish language students and interested participants recited all 70 verses of the poem. It was the first and largest Spanish choral reading of Rizal’s famous poem. The event was held at ICM’s patio. Mi ultimo adios was written by Rizal on the eve of his execution on December 30, 1896.

“This is our tribute to Jose Rizal. Many of the great works in Philippine literature were written in the Spanish language during the Spanish period and the first half of the 20^th century. And Rizal’s immortal masterpieces are, definitely, no exception,” says Instituto Cervantes director Jose Rodriguez. ICM is also set to republish this year two of Rizal’s most famous novels, Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo in their original Spanish version.

The choral reading was led by Rodriguez. Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casino also took part of the choral reading. While it is the first time that Instituto Cervantes presented a Spanish poetry choral reading, in 2006, the Spanish Center organized a similar tribute to Rizal but in a non-stop public reading of the Noli me Tangere.

Aside from the choral reading, other activities of Dia del Español are free Spanish demo classes, cultural presentations and various games. Various games such as Forma-palabras (Scrabble), Sopa de letras (Word Hunt) and Poesia magnetic (Magnetic poetry) animated the Spanish day. A gigantic Spanish version of a scrabble game and hunt for Spanish nouns, verbs and adjectives were played by the participants. Some poets’ wannabes also took their chance to compose poems, fill in the missing words or just freely express their thoughts using words on magnetic material. Lucky participants of the event were given special prizes.

Moreover, the hallway of the ICM was creatively designed where everyone can write up their thoughts on in Spanish of course. Spanish food was also sold at the patio by Kusina Teatro and Alba Spanish Restaurant.

Instituto Cervantes has organized the event in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in the Philippines, Spanish International Cooperation Agency for Development (AECID), Casino Español de Manila and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA).