Christmas in Rizal's El Fili

The book El Filibusterismo by Jose Rizal is a sequel to the novel Noli Me Tangere.

Many of the characters are the same. Simoun in the Fili is actually Ibarra in Noli. However, he has been transformed into a revolutionary, ruthless, radical and vengeful hero in the Fili. Here he says: “Today, I have returned to destroy this system, precipitate its corruption, push it to the abyss where it runs insensate, even if I have to spill torrents of blood and tears.”

He goes further and he ends this segment of the book saying: “I am the judge come to punish a social system through its own crimes.”

Throughout the book, Rizal through Simoun continues his messages of oppression and the need to assert the rights of the Indios. Two of the stories are set during Christmas. I have chosen these two chapters as fitting for Christmas.

The first story is from the chapter “A Cochero’s Christmas Eve.” It starts with Capitan Basilio going home to his hometown of San Diego in Laguna. He reaches his destination on Christmas Eve just as a procession was going through the streets. He was delayed: “… losing many hours because the cochero, who had forgotten his cedula, was detained by the guardia civil, hit with some rifle butts and taken to the barracks to face the commandant.”