24 December 1886

Berlin

Feverish, no sun and wintry wind — Another admirer of Blumentrtt — Rizal with Viola and young Moret on Christmas eve — Greetings — Christmas tree — At Manila, midnight supper with the family — The Belén with the Child Jesus — The best season in the Philippines — Mr. Schuchardt’s work — The other pieces are aegri somnia — Instead of Kopfjaeger, “head-cutters” — Translation of Waitz partly finished.

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Jaegerstrasse, 71, Berlin

24 December 1886

Dear and esteemed Friend,

Today, I received a second letter of yours, which like all your letters, gave me much joy.

I could not answer the first with Schuchardt’s pamphlet enclosed, because when I received it, I had fever and I was in bed for several days. There has been snowfall since Monday and the roofs and streets are covered with snow and one must not run in order not to slip on the sidewalk. The sun does not come out and the wind is sharp. But it is a pleasure for us to see these phenomena never seen in our tropical country.

A friend of mine from the Philippines[1] arrived from Barcelona where he studied. He is studying German and wishes to stay nine or ten months in Berlin. We talk a great deal about you and your work and he wishes to meet you. I will spend Christmas Eve with him and young Moret, who is sending you his Christmas greetings. Many thanks for your kind invitation. I should like to see a Christmas celebration with a Christmas tree, but the families who know me have invited me only for the New Year, either because they have no children or their children are already big. At home the whole family partake of a good soup at midnight; and the children decorate a Belén[2] with the image of the Child Jesus, the animals, etc. This season is the most beautiful and pleasant we have in the Philippines.

I have read the work of Mr. Schuchardt and I am surprised that this scholar has done so difficult a work with such poor material, for, excepting the piece of Mr. Labhart,[3] Mr. Pardo de Tavera, and the last piece, the rest “Spanish pieces of the kitchen,” are neither Spanish of the kitchen nor Tagalog, nor Castilian at all. They are aegri somnia,[4] the product of the feverish brains of Messrs. Entrala, Cañamaque, and others. It is a pity that Mr. Schuchardt has not drawn from purer sources. The serious and confident German scholar has relied solely on the high-sounding names of our writers. This “Spanish of the kitchen” is spoken in two different ways, depending on whether the one speaking it is a native or a Spaniard.

Instead of Kopfjaeger, which according to you means headhunters, I suggest the words “beheader” or “head-cutters.” I would not form a technical term of Greek words; that would be too mild and scientific for those tribes. I translated Stamm as tribe, because, for me, “race” and “caste” have a more ample meaning. However, if you believe that the word “race” is better than “tribe” you may strike out the last one.

I have not called on Messrs. Jagor and Virchow because in the past days I was still feeling somewhat sick and Mr. Moret was very busy.

It has snowed much today and it is still snowing, but the streets are full of people doing their Christmas shopping.

Only one-third of my translation of Waitz is finished, because I had to return the book, but I will borrow it again and finish my work.

I wish you and your esteemed family Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. I am

Very sincerely yours,

Rizal

Many thanks for Schuhardt’s book.

01-188 [Family]