John Jonas explains Rizal Day on December 30, a Philippine national holiday honoring Dr. Jose Rizal. People parade, visit Rizal Park, and place flowers at shrines. Work slows from December 30 through New Year's as the country marks the hero's life and writings, including his final poem 'Mi Ultimo Adios'.
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December 30th is a regular holiday, Rizal Day. So have you ever noticed how we name things after landmarks? Like, where I live, we have a bunch of. We have mountains surrounding us everywhere. Mount Timpanogos. We have Lone Peak, Mount Olympus, Twin Peaks. And then I noticed there's, like, tons of stuff named after those things, like businesses and parks and traditions and cemeteries, all named after these mountains that are around us. Does that happen where you live? In the Philippines, they have Rizal, their national hero. His name is Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Raylanda. I wish I knew how to say that better. That's a long name, but. So this guy is considered the national hero in the Philippines, and December 30th is his day. And it is a regular holiday. It's a day off. Everybody takes the day off. Kind of an interesting dude, actually. So he. He was like polymath, which means he is very knowledgeable in multiple subjects and really good at it. He lived kind of a bohemian lifestyle. Like, he was pretty free. He traveled a lot. He wrote a lot. He wrote a lot of poetry. His poems are pretty famous. Like, he's been quoted in Congress in the US to advocate for Philippine independence. Indonesian soldiers would quote his poetry when they were going to battle, when they were struggling for independence in the 1940s. So, number one, this is December 30, which means people are taking the day off, which means that the parties for New Year start December 30th, and they continue to December 31st, New Year's Eve, and they continue into New Year's January 1st. So there's a lot going on in terms of holidays and not a lot of work going on right now. Just so you know, with Rizal Day, there's a bunch of stuff they do. Like, there's usually festivals and parades. They have traditions of going to, like, shrines and putting flowers down. They'll go to the park and have a picnic to Rizal park, which almost every town in the Philippines has a Rizal park, and they'll have a picnic there. Rizal's last poem, which he wrote the day before he was executed. He was executed by firing squad. He wrote a poem called Mi Ultimo Adios, My Last Farewell. And it's a pretty famous poem. It has, like, 14 stanzas, except if it's translated into the Filipino language. He wrote it in Spanish in early 1900s. When it's translated into the Filipino language, there's 28 stanzas. And Julia says that I once tried to memorize the Spanish version of his Mi ultimo Adios. And she says, I never got past the first stanza, which I was really glad that I tried it in Spanish and not in Filipino, because there's 28 stanzas there. I guess the guy's life is pretty interesting. They really like studying it. Even if you don't like history, his life is interesting. So, anyway, the 30th is resolve day. Remember, that's probably the 29th for you. So when you get on the 29th, don't expect to get much done. 30th, 31st. First. There's just not a lot going on.
