150 red Rizal balloons go by

MANILA, Philippines - "The past is not yet finished,” says Instituto Cervantes director José Rodríguez. The man has a point: the past is something mysterious and malleable. And isn’t the past nothing but prelude? Rodríguez admonishes, “Let’s not forget history. We must acknowledge the errors (of the past), and then move forward.”

Rodríguez also talks about how the Spanish cultural center will celebrate the third annual “El Día del Español” (Spanish Language Day) on June 18 at Instituto Cervantes (IC) in Manila, along with 70 IC centers worldwide — from Madrid to Rio de Janeiro.  

“It’s fiesta day all over the world,” he says about the institute’s ongoing effort to raise awareness about the importance of Spanish and to establish a meeting point for all Spanish speakers.

Rodríguez explains, “The main objective is to emphasize the importance of Spanish as an international language of communication. Spanish is the language of famous literary figures from Miguel de Cervantes to 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature winner Mario Vargas Llosa.”

Did you know that Vargas Llosa was in the Philippines some years back, the Instituto Cervantes director asks. Yes, I remember F. Sionil Jose telling one me how the author of La Ciudad y los Perros sat in the very chair I was sitting on.

Rodríguez adds, “This year we would like to bring this international cultural feast to as many people as possible to introduce them to the vast richness that speaking our language brings. And we celebrate (the Spanish language’s) diversity and capacity to cultivate society with an exciting lineup of activities.”

There will a mélange of Spanish food as well as performances by mimes, acrobats and artists. 

Starting 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 18, participants can play the sopa de palabaras (word hunt), formapalabras (form-a-word), or the magnetic poetry game. There is also El Juego del Español, a crossword game developed especially for the occasion.  

Instituto Cervantes director José Rodríguez explains, “Spanish is the language of famous literary figures from Miguel de Cervantes to 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature winner Mario Vargas Llosa.” Photo by JOEY MENDOZA

This year, Instituto Cervantes is also paying tribute to National Hero Jose Rizal on his 150th birthday anniversary.   

“We will release 150 balloons, and each contains a stanza from a Rizal poem,” Rodríguez says, describing how the balloons would travel the lengths of the city and then land somewhere in the hands of an unsuspecting person who’s about to have an encounter with an idea from Rizal.

“Somebody,” says Rodríguez, “gets to keep a stanza by Jose Rizal.” 

There will also be the first and largest Spanish choral reading of “Mi Ultimo Adios” (The Last Farewell) at the institute.

Instituto Cervantes aims to gather 150 Spanish readers who will recite all 70 verses of the poem that Rizal wrote on the eve of his execution on Dec. 30, 1896. Participating readers will receive a commemorative T-shirt of the event.

You also have a symbolic firing of cannon at 10:15 a.m. (together with the release of the balloons) containing clusters of confetti and Spanish words on paper.

Call it a case of receiving “air mail.” How William S. Burroughs once described words falling down from the sky.

* * *

“El Día del Español” on June 18 is organized by Instituto Cervantes in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in the Philippines, Spanish Agency International Cooperation for Development (AECID), Light Railway Transit (LRTA), and Casino Español de Manila.

Admission to the event is free. For information, call 526-1482, or visit http://manila.cervantes.es. Instituto Cervantes is at 855 T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita, Manila.