Berlin
Berlin, 11 November 1886
Jaegerstrasse 71-111
MR. MANUEL T. HIDALGO and
MRS. SATURNINA RIZAL DE HIDALGO
MY DEAR BROTHERS:
Although I have already told in my letters to our parents all the news I have, nevertheless this does not excuse me from writing to you. As you already know, I am here in Germany going from city to city, from town to town, visiting all the educational centers, the town schools, the parishes, the churches, and many times after listening to a Catholic sermon, I go to a Protestant church to attend the services there and sometimes to the synagogue of the Jews. Everything that can teach me something interests me, so that I can bring to the Philippines the best that I find here. There are here some beautiful and good customs, like for example those of Christmas, which it gives me pleasure to describe here for it is not found in Spain and you have not read about it in Spanish books. On Christmas eve they bring from the forest a pine tree and this tree is chosen because, besides being erect, it is the only tree which keeps its leaves during winter – I say it badly; not really leaves, but a kind of needle. It is decorated with tinsel, paper, lights, dolls, candy, fruits, dainties, etc., and at night time, it is shown to the children (who should not see the preparation of it), and around this tree the family celebrates Christmas. They say, and I have also read it that in England there is another custom which is for older persons. In certain parts of the house hung a twig of mistletoe or gui in French. When a young man and woman find themselves under it and he does not kiss her, he must pay a fine or give her a present. For this reason, many young men stroll in the streets carrying a twig of mistletoe. When they see a pretty girl, they approach her and kiss her. When she looks up and sees the mistletoe held over her head by the mischievous young man, she smiles, keeps quiet, and says nothing. This is very English.
The only custom I have seen in Madrid, we have adopted, is eat a fish called besugo and roast turkey, which shows that the Spaniards do not indulge in poems for children and young people, or as the vulgar expression goes, they do not go around the bush. They attend more to the positive or to the stomach. And “Carambas!” they would say; let us amuse ourselves and let children and young people seek their own amusement as best they can. They do seek their own diversion with the result that children and young people in Spain lack the charming innocence and candour of those of the North, without malice, without great preoccupations. A good young woman can walk alone in the streets until ten o’clock or eleven o’clock at night without being molested. A pretty girl, well-educated and rich, can travel safely for leagues and leagues alone with her handbag and luggage. This is because here they know how to give each age its due, unlike in other countries where children are not allowed to be themselves, to make noises or to play. Instead they are made to recite the rosary and novena until the poor youngsters become very sleepy and understand nothing of what is going on. Consequently when they reach the age of reason, they pray just as they have prayed when they were children without understanding what they are saying; they fall asleep or think of nonsense. Nothing can destroy a thing more than abuse of it, and praying can also be abused.
This is how I have written you, filling four sheets of paper without saying anything, which shows that one can write even when one has no news to tell. Please write me.
Your brother,
RIZAL
02-178 [Blumentritt V.1]