9 Facts You Didn't Know About Rizal

Rizal Was Widely Featured in Cigarette Wrappers

Most of these wrappers, made with Art Deco or Art Nouveau designs, were produced in Binondo during the turn of the century. An old cigarette label, Las Delicias, even went to the extreme by featuring Rizal smoking a cigar.

Rizal Wrote An Extensive Written Discourse On Kulam

Entitled “La curacion de los hechizados” (The treatment and cure of the bewitched), this lesser-known work of Rizal explores the psychological treatment for kulam and even explained that witches were not always women who are old or ugly.

He also discussed the difference between hiloanon of the Visayas, who gives poison to her victims, and the manggagaway, the ‘traditional’ witch who uses ragdoll and pins.

Jose Rizal’s Paranormal Encounter

Apparently, even the Philippines’ foremost hero was not immune to otherworldly hauntings. While in exile in Dapitan, Rizal wrote to a Jesuit priest about one of his houses being haunted by a poltergeist. In this case, the poltergeist was said to be targeting his significant other Josephine Bracken who also believed that it was the spirit of her dead father.

Rizal wrote that many of their household items had been broken by the poltergeist. When Josephine asked the spirit what it wanted, “All her cups, tea kettles, saucers, etc. fell down at the same time. All the boys and I saw it.”

He Was Already a Terrific Sculptor Even at a Very Young Age

Rizal carved a 9-inch statuette of the Sacred Heart out of batikuling wood when he was only 14 years old. The Jesuit fathers brought this statuette in Fort Santiago when they visited Rizal in December 1896. Aside from wood sculptures, Rizal also carved 40 amazing masterpieces out of plaster, terra-cotta, wax, and clay.

There Are Three Animals Named After Rizal

While exiled in Dapitan, he collected three species of animals: Apogonia Rizali (Heller), a type of small beetle; Draco Rizali (Wandolleck), a species of a flying dragon; and Rachophorous Rizali (Boetger), a species of toad.

Young Jose Rizal Experimented with Drugs

To be fair, Rizal was NEVER a drug addict. However, that did not stop him from trying some for the sake of science. While just an 18-year-old, Rizal once used hashish he bought from a drugstore. At the time, the drug—a hallucinogen more potent than marijuana—could be easily bought over the counter along with cocaine, morphine, and heroin.

Rizal Was A Polymath

The hero's extensive scope of knowledge makes him a polymath - a learned individual who is intelligent in numerous subjects. For example, Rizal was a sculptor, a painter, and an innovator. He also exemplified skills in many fields of sciences such as medicine, ophthalmology, and biology

Jose Rizal Is Not His Real Name

His full name is José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda. He was a patriot, physician, poet par excellence and novelist who inspired the Philippine nationalist movement. He died at age 35, executed by Spanish colonial masters, who ruled the Philippines for 350 years.

Dr. Jose Rizal Is Our National Hero

He is considered the national hero (pambansang bayani) of the Philippines.[8][9] An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement, which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain.