MINIATURES

Facsimile addressed letter  to Dr. Adolf  B. Meyer  Today is the 158th Birthday of Jose Rizal. I am featuring one of his controversial letters. Dated March 5, 1890, and addressed to German naturalist and anthropologist Adolf B. Meyer. Yes, it is the one where Rizal mentioned, he experimented with "Hashish"-- a byproduct of the Cannabis plant (or in slang, "marijuana")... Tumira siya. The three-page letter was actua lly written in Spanish and not in German as some earlier articles say. Rizal communicated with the Hamburg born Prof. Meyer in three languages, namely German, French, and also Spanish. Translating the first two paragraphs, it goes: "My distinguished friend: “I received your letter of the 27th of last month and excuse me for not having answered you before this, for I have had to consult some countrymen and books concerning your question about the hashish. “No book, no historian that I know of speaks of any plant whose use is similar to that of...

Revolutionary postage stamp- Aguinaldo- 1898-1899 The equilateral triangle is associated with freemasonry. The three corners adorned each with a star -- It stands for the trinitarian view of existence, found in some great philosophies and religions of the world. That three stars also define unity of three characters, in one: Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, comprising the  whole Philippines. Or the great tripartite motto of the French Revolution (which Aguinaldo often invoked) - Liberté, égalité, fraternité. The freemasonry's "eye of providence" is replaced with the mythological sun. All these symbols lead us to one great movement and philosophy that swept Europe in the 18th Century -- the Age of Enlightenment. It is thru this thinking, of reason above belief, logic, and freedom of men above institutions like the church, etc, that revolutions were born. Enlightenment spread throughout Europe. In Spain and in its dominions in the Americas, it was called "Ilustracion...

Sabungero, 19th Century Print - BNP On earth, as it is in heaven" — Could cockfighting transcend the earthly realm? Even President Duterte once questioned his own religious understanding: “: “Hindi ko talaga maintindihan ‘yang relihiyon ko. Si San Pedro, naka-guwardiya sa gate sa langit. Tapos ang gago nagdala pa ng manok. Wala namang sabong doon! Bakit? Hindi ko maintindihan itong bugok na itong San Pedro na ito" (I really can't fathom my religion, Saint. Peter he's guarding the gates of heaven. Then the fool brings a rooster. There's no cockfighting there! why? I can't comprehend this stupid St. Peter.) Did Duterte perhaps miss the essence? The art of manly Filipino bird combat is, in itself, a form of religion. "Pintakasi" falls on a Sunday. Some men first pass by the church before heading to the cockpit. Are they praying to their Pintakasi (Patron Saint) or seeking blessings for the Pintakasi (the Cockfight), concepts lost in translation? ...