After attending a special screening of the 1998 movie biography “Jose Rizal,” I made a hasty exit from the theater to avoid any discussion about its accuracy. However, I was unexpectedly approached by the late Marilou Diaz-Abaya who provided me with an intriguing research tip. She suggested I explore the Rizal collection in Berlin, although I was aware that Rizal had actually sent his natural science specimens to Dresden instead of Berlin. Among the materials he sent from his exile in Dapitan, three specimens were particularly significant in the field of taxonomy: Draco rizali (a winged-lizard), Rhacophorus rizali (a frog), and Apogonia rizali (a bug). Diaz-Abaya, on the other hand, claimed to have seen clothing rather than reptiles, fish, butterflies, and ethnographic objects in Berlin. She was especially captivated by a lowland Christian woman’s ensemble, describing it in great detail and applauding its high quality and craftsmanship that is rarely seen today. She even went so far as to suggest that the selection of textiles and garments exhibited such great taste that they could not have been chosen by a straight man. This assertion left me pondering the role of Rizal’s mother and sisters, who were likely responsible for sourcing and selecting the clothing. It is worth noting that Rizal’s elder sister, Saturnina, was involved in the jewelry business, and his younger siblings Trinidad and Josefa operated a textile store in prewar Manila.
Over a decade later, I was granted a research grant by the Goethe-Institut Manila to physically investigate the Berlin collection. I discovered that this collection had remained largely unexplored due to the more extensively documented collection of natural history specimens and a few ethnographic items in the Dresden museum. Rizal had sent these artifacts to Dr. Adolf Bernhard Meyer, whom he met in 1886 and maintained correspondence with during his time in Europe and exile in Dapitan from 1892-1896. The majority of the Rizal collection in Dresden awaits further research, including four wooden spoons adorned with human figures from the Cordilleras, a barong or cutlass with its wooden sheath, and a brass betel nut presentation tray from Mindanao. Meyer received these items in exchange for books that provided companionship and solace to Rizal during his distant exile in Dapitan.
To my surprise, the Berlin Ethnological Museum not only boasted a Rizal collection but also contained an unpublished letter dated July 3, 1888, addressed to Adolf Bastian. This letter listed the 22 items Rizal had sent from London, which consisted of 15 articles of clothing and 13 textile samples, including piña or pineapple fiber. The packing list included brief notes on the purpose and origin of each item. The assortment featured a pineapple-fiber shirt for men, a woman’s veil known as ‘Lambong,’ a woman’s scarf made of nipis, a women’s jusi shirt, a women’s skirt known as ‘saya,’ a wide skirt from Mindanao called ‘patadion[g],’ a beadwork cord for women from Mindanao, a women’s bark cloth shirt from Mindanao, a cloth band for carrying infants from Mindanao, a belt from Mindanao, a men’s shirt from Mindanao, breeches from Mindanao, a shirt from Mindanao, a scarf, and a silk skirt from the Tagalogs. Of particular fascination were the textiles from Mindanao. I wondered about their origins, how they were acquired in Manila, and how they made their way to Europe. The collection also contained a rare Bagobo ensemble. However, what struck me as the most significant artifact was a horn and silver salakot (traditional Filipino hat) that Rizal described in German as “Es gehorte mir” (This is mine). It was his own salakot, which he referred to in one letter as “salacot cong sungay.” I was tempted to try it on, but feared the curators would promptly eject me from the museum.
These items, stored in the Berlin museum warehouse, provide compelling evidence that there is much more to discover about Rizal and contribute to our knowledge of the National Hero.
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