MINIATURES

  Le voyage et navigation, faict par les Espaignolz es Isles de Mollucques. Des isles qu ilz ont trouvé audict voyage, des roys dicelles, de leur gouvernement & maniere de viure, avec plusieurs aultres choses by Pigafetta, Antonio, ca. 1480-ca. 1534 The controversial page from Pigafetta's account of the Magellan's Circumnavigation of the Globe. This is the French version published in 1525 taken from the original Italian. (Said to be the first edition that was printed). This is the part of the chronicle that always gets censored due to its content for it discusses an aspect of the sexual lives of the Cebuanos. This edition is abridged. The later translation had the whole original paragraph. One English edition translates the supposed paragraph: "Those people go naked, wearing but one piece of palm-tree cloth about their privies. The males, young and old, have their penis pierced from one side to the other near the head, with a gold or tin bolt as large as a goose quill....

  I often ask why the narratives about human expeditions via sea travel were somehow dominated by Europeans in the last few hundred years -- like that of Magellan or that of Columbus? Of course, the circumnavigation of the world belongs solely to Magellan, an offshoot of the Iberian quest to get a real image of the globe and dominate it. Yet other cultures and people had also, before, dared ask and ventured further. Take for example Malay seafarers from the Sunda to Sumatra, who for many centuries had reached the coast of Africa, that even today clear traces of Malay culture, language, and DNA are still evident in some areas like Madagascar. When the Portuguese conquered Malacca in 1511 they did not only get a first-hand look at the lucrative Spice Trade they also saw the vibrant world of maritime Southeast Asia. There were sea routes, quasi invisible sea passages only the seafaring natives knew how to navigate with their own simple tool as that of experience of tides and winds, ab...

  Five Hundred years ago today the armada of Magellan was in the vicinity of the Philippine Sea heading towards a destination that many believe was entirely unknown to the Captain -- But there are those who also insist that Magellan perhaps had known before the existence of a group of islands located approx 600 nautical miles north of the original target, the fabled Spice Islands. Was this group of islands (later would be called the Philippines) a historical coincidence, accident whatever? Or was it just a clever ruse of a Captain to calm the fears and apprehensions of his crew in venturing further to the "unknown"? A few days of stay on another island, in what was now the Marianas, gave Magellan and his men a somewhat rude introduction to the varied cultures and people in the region. --Incidentally, at present time, there are Filipinos who debate with this question: Are Filipinos Asians or Pacific Islanders? This year's commemoration of the European discovery of the Ph...

Minsan may isang antropologo ang nagtanong: Ano kaya ang kahihinatnan ng sangkatauhan kung hindi napaamo at nagamit sa mga gawain ng tao ang baka (ox, buey) at ang iba pang mga kalahi nito gaya ng kerbau - kalabaw o damulag? Ang relasyon ng tao sa hayop na nabanggit ay nahahayag din sa literatura maging sa relihiyon at katutubong paniniwala. Halimbawa, sa isang popular na taurine myth ng mga Griyego, sinasabing sa anyo ng makisig na puting toro nagpakita si Zeus sa magandang dilag na si Europa. Upang siya ay lansiin at tangayin-- Gaya ng pinapakita sa kwadrong pinta ni Tiziano, "The Rape of Europa". Sa mga Hindu naman, ang baka ang siyang nagsisilbing "vahana" o sasakyan ni Shiva. Ganun din si Lord Krishna, na may kasama din bakang si Kamadhenu. Ang baka sa paniniwalang Hindu ay simbolo ng buhay -- tulad ng inang kalikasan umaaruga sa mga nilalang. Ang kanyang gatas na sumasagisag sa mga unang pagkain ibinigay sa atin ng ating mga ina. Kaya nga ang baka ay may figu...

  Ferdinand Blumentritt (1853-1913) Photo BNF/Gallica Historical geography, the shifts of powers, and the reality in the development of languages and races in central Europe had greatly affected if not made difficult our definitions of Blumentritt's true nationality... Austrian, German, Czech, or Bohemian? When Rizal befriended and visited the "Gymnasiallehrer" in Leitmeritz (Litoměřice), borders were different then, the modern Czech Republic does not exist yet. (But at that time, the Czechs were already a nation conscious of its nationality and ethnicity for many centuries). The region was also called Bohemia, which was somehow, through the centuries, overrun by Germanic powers -- the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrian Hapsburg. Ferdinand Blumentritt, because of language and culture could also be considered ethnic German. The problem with the word "German" was that it actually encompassed a larger definition involving not only one nation but also larger terri...

  We often associate Quiapo with the church and the Black Nazarene plus the annual religious ritual that comes with it -- the traslacion. It is also a place where one finds a considerable amount of folkloric commodities, often bordering between the religious and black magic, from santo" to "anting anting" and "gayuma". In Quiapo, you can know your future for a haggled amount, a few shuffles of cards, and the words of the fortune-teller. But behind the facade of the sacred and the profane that is Quiapo, there looms the reality of its once glory days, the not too often discussed past. From the 19th century-Spanish era to the early 1900s, the district of Quiapo was an important center of Manila's artistic and cultural life. It once had a number of theaters where Spanish zarzuelas and various European opera companies performed. Theaters such as Teatro Lirico (1830’s) , Teatro de Quiapo, and the Teatro de Variedades -- mentioned by Rizal in El Filibusterism...

  "Sturm und Drang" was an 18th-century German literary and artistic movement, serving as the precursor to the broader Romantic Movement that emerged in 19th-century Europe. Rizal's early education introduced him to readings on Graeco-Roman literature, Spanish classics, and French authors like Dumas. However, once he arrived in Europe, his literary horizons expanded significantly. He referenced literary figures such as Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Schiller, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his writings—authors associated with the German Sturm und Drang movement. In "Crisostomo Ibarra," Rizal created a character deeply rooted in the "Sturm und Drang" mold. Ibarra, a young and naive individual, possessed a belief in the power of reason and rationalism. He embarked on a mission to convey his ideas and ambitious plans to his homeland. Ibarra epitomized the mestizo figure, a product of the Age of Enlightenment and the sophisticated Asian response to liberal i...