by José Rizal
CHAPTER VIII
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
When Juli opened her sorrowing eyes, she saw that the house was stilldark, but the cocks were crowing. Her first thought was that perhapsthe Virgin had performed the miracle and the sun was not going to rise,in spite of the invocations of the cocks. She rose, crossed herself,recited her morning prayers with great devotion, and with as littlenoise as possible went out on the _batalan._
There was no miracle--the sun was rising and promised a magnificentmorning, the breeze was delightfully cool, the stars were palingin the east, and the cocks were crowing as if to see who could crowbest and loudest. That had been too much to ask--it were much easierto request the Virgin to send the two hundred and fifty pesos. Whatwould it cost the Mother of the Lord to give them? But underneath theimage she found only the letter of her father asking for the ransom offive hundred pesos. There was nothing to do but go, so, seeing thather grandfather was not stirring, she thought him asleep and beganto prepare breakfast. Strange, she was calm, she even had a desireto laugh! What had she had last night to afflict her so? She was notgoing very far, she could come every second day to visit the house,her grandfather could see her, and as for Basilio, he had known forsome time the bad turn her father's affairs had taken, since he hadoften said to her, "When I'm a physician and we are married, yourfather won't need his fields."
"What a fool I was to cry so much," she said to herself as she packedher _tampipi._ Her fingers struck against the locket and she pressedit to her lips, but immediately wiped them from fear of contagion, forthat locket set with diamonds and emeralds had come from a leper. Ah,then, if she should catch that disease she could not get married.
As it became lighter, she could see her grandfather seated in acorner, following all her movements with his eyes, so she caught up her_tampipi_ of clothes and approached him smilingly to kiss his hand. Theold man blessed her silently, while she tried to appear merry. "Whenfather comes back, tell him that I have at last gone to college--mymistress talks Spanish. It's the cheapest college I could find."
Seeing the old man's eyes fill with tears, she placed the _tampipi_on her head and hastily went downstairs, her slippers slapping merrilyon the wooden steps. But when she turned her head to look again atthe house, the house wherein had faded her childhood dreams and hermaiden illusions, when she saw it sad, lonely, deserted, with thewindows half closed, vacant and dark like a dead man's eyes, whenshe heard the low rustling of the bamboos, and saw them nodding inthe fresh morning breeze as though bidding her farewell, then hervivacity disappeared; she stopped, her eyes filled with tears, andletting herself fall in a sitting posture on a log by the waysideshe broke out into disconsolate tears.
Juli had been gone several hours and the sun was quite high overheadwhen Tandang Selo gazed from the window at the people in their festivalgarments going to the town to attend the high mass. Nearly all ledby the hand or carried in their arms a little boy or girl decked outas if for a fiesta.
Christmas day in the Philippines is, according to the elders, a fiestafor the children, who are perhaps not of the same opinion and who,it may be supposed, have for it an instinctive dread. They are rousedearly, washed, dressed, and decked out with everything new, dear,and precious that they possess--high silk shoes, big hats, woolen orvelvet suits, without overlooking four or five scapularies, whichcontain texts from St. John, and thus burdened they are carried tothe high mass, where for almost an hour they are subjected to the heatand the human smells from so many crowding, perspiring people, and ifthey are not made to recite the rosary they must remain quiet, bored,or asleep. At each movement or antic that may soil their clothingthey are pinched and scolded, so the fact is that they do not laughor feel happy, while in their round eyes can be read a protest againstso much embroidery and a longing for the old shirt of week-days.
Afterwards, they are dragged from house to house to kiss theirrelatives' hands. There they have to dance, sing, and recite allthe amusing things they know, whether in the humor or not, whethercomfortable or not in their fine clothes, with the eternal pinchingsand scoldings if they play any of their tricks. Their relatives givethem cuartos which their parents seize upon and of which they hearnothing more. The only positive results they are accustomed to get fromthe fiesta are the marks of the aforesaid pinchings, the vexations,and at best an attack of indigestion from gorging themselves withcandy and cake in the houses of kind relatives. But such is thecustom, and Filipino children enter the world through these ordeals,which afterwards prove the least sad, the least hard, of their lives.
Adult persons who live independently also share in this fiesta,by visiting their parents and their parents' relatives, crookingtheir knees, and wishing them a merry Christmas. Their Christmasgift consists of a sweetmeat, some fruit, a glass of water, or someinsignificant present.
Tandang Selo saw all his friends pass and thought sadly that thisyear he had no Christmas gift for anybody, while his granddaughterhad gone without hers, without wishing him a merry Christinas. Wasit delicacy on Juli's part or pure forgetfulness?
When he tried to greet the relatives who called on him, bringing theirchildren, he found to his great surprise that he could not articulatea word. Vainly he tried, but no sound could he utter. He placed hishands on his throat, shook his head, but without effect. When he triedto laugh, his lips trembled convulsively and the only noise producedwas a hoarse wheeze like the blowing of bellows.
The women gazed at him in consternation. "He's dumb, he's dumb!" theycried in astonishment, raising at once a literal pandemonium.
