MINIATURES

    In his letter to Ferdinand Blumentritt, Jose Rizal shares insights into how Christmas is celebrated in the Philippines. Throughout their friendship and correspondence, Rizal consistently took the time to convey his holiday greetings to the Blumentritt family. What makes this particular letter fascinating is Rizal's mention of the old Teutonic-German tradition of setting up a Christmas Tree, known as the 'Christbaumfest,' which is exclusively practiced in German-speaking regions on Christmas Eve. Rizal admired and embraced this tradition, going so far as to share it with his family back home. In the same letter to Blumentritt, Rizal, perhaps feeling homesick, penned the following description of Christmas in the Philippines: "At home, the entire family comes together for a midnight dinner; the children adorn a Belen with figurines of the Child Jesus, shepherds, animals, and more. This season is the most beautiful and delightful time we have in the Philippines....

December 7, 1941 -- Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan which was then followed by bombings of US bases in the Philippines and the subsequent landings of Japanese troops in Lingayen.-- Because of the International Dateline (IDL), it was December 8. 1941 in Manila -- The Feast of the Immaculate Concepcion. Mass was being celebrated in Pasig Church when the news of the bombing of Hawaii began to spread in the town.  MANOLO LOZADA He arrived at the venue sporting a distinctive Breton hat, a choice that, I must admit, suited him well—not for making him look younger, but for the intrigue it could generate as the "man in a hat." However, to many Pasiguenos of another generation, and to those who recognized the worth of the man, he is "Tito Manolo," the owner and proprietor of the city's oldest "panaderia," known as "Dimas-Alang," an artist-painter, and the brother of the much-celebrated Filipina violinist, the late Carmencita Lozada. Manolo Lozada w...