Ambeth R. Ocampo's Blog, page 115

Bullfights in Manila.One wonders what foreign influences take root and stay in our long history. Americans intoduced baseball b...

Bullfights in Manila.
One wonders what foreign influences take root and stay in our long history. Americans intoduced baseball but basketball took root. We used to have Jai-alai and that went out of fashion too. But bullfights? On the edge of the photograph you can clearly see the clock tower of Manila City Hall. I wonder why bullfighting did not catch on despite three centuries of Spanish rule. Photo from the S.D. Quiason Library, NHCP.



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My Inquirer column today on the annual exercise of marking important dates on a planner.https://opinion.inquirer.net/148334/hol...

My Inquirer column today on the annual exercise of marking important dates on a planner.
https://opinion.inquirer.net/148334/h...



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RIZAL'S 1884 PLANNER. On January 1, 1884 Rizal filled the empty slate that was his planner noting the balance of his funds ...

RIZAL'S 1884 PLANNER.
On January 1, 1884 Rizal filled the empty slate that was his planner noting the balance of his funds as 617.15 pesetas. This diary is fascinating for the detailed list of expenses that reflects his personality.
Rizal spent New Year’s Eve (Noche Vieja) in the Madrid restaurant with expatriate Pinoys: the Paternos, the Esquivels. Figueroa, Villanueva, Jugo, Graciano Lopez Jaena, J. Llorente, Ev. Aguierre, Laserna, Lete, Ventura, Yriarte and Vidal.
“I had the h...

A clean slate on the first Monday of 2022. After marking out important dates, appointments, holidays, and warnings like Mercury ...

A clean slate on the first Monday of 2022. After marking out important dates, appointments, holidays, and warnings like Mercury Retrograde I am ready to tackle the new year.
Thanks to my favorite publisher Xandra Padilla for the desk planner, Moleskine and Lechturm planners and sharpee book signing pens from National Bookstore.



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RIZAL QUOTE FOR THE COMING WEEK.Texts are translated from the original Spanish or other languages, and sourced from the 25-volu...

RIZAL QUOTE FOR THE COMING WEEK.
Texts are translated from the original Spanish or other languages, and sourced from the 25-volume Escritos de Rizal series (Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961).



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Live masked mass in thanksgiving for 2021 and hopeful for 2022. Remembered everyone today in this ancient church. Can you guess...

Live masked mass in thanksgiving for 2021 and hopeful for 2022. Remembered everyone today in this ancient church. Can you guess where?



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Media noche (midnight) to us is Noche Vieja (old year) to the Spanish. The view from my bedroom as 2021 passed to 2022. Here is ...

Media noche (midnight) to us is Noche Vieja (old year) to the Spanish. The view from my bedroom as 2021 passed to 2022. Here is wishing the new year will be better than the last two. Grateful to be alive!



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Rizal Day 2021. Three studio photographs of Rizal printed and distributed after his death on December 30, 1896: Left and center...

Rizal Day 2021.
Three studio photographs of Rizal printed and distributed after his death on December 30, 1896: Left and center, were printed in Hong Kong; Right, in Manila. Glad I scanned these because I hid them so well I can't find them :)



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RIZAL QUOTE FOR THE COMING WEEK.Texts are translated from the original Spanish or other languages, and sourced from the 25-volu...

RIZAL QUOTE FOR THE COMING WEEK.
Texts are translated from the original Spanish or other languages, and sourced from the 25-volume Escritos de Rizal series (Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961).



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This undated letter of Rizal was written in Dapitan for his nephew Mauricio Cruz (Moris) in Manila. It opens with a threat: "Stu...

This undated letter of Rizal was written in Dapitan for his nephew Mauricio Cruz (Moris) in Manila. It opens with a threat: "Study well, because those who don't know receive coscorrones [rap on the head with the knuckles, "kutos" in Filipino].
First, Rizal wishes Moris a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in Spanish, then translates these greetings into English--mispelling "Christmass." Proving to us that just because he is Rizal does not mean he is right all the time.
This charmin...