Jose Rizal: Google Doodle celebrates Filipino National Hero’s 158th Birthday

Seven days after Independence Day, the Philippines celebrates another significant day: national hero Jose Rizal’s birthday. Today’s Google Doodle celebrates Filipino writer and doctor José Rizal, whose passionate writings and selfless dedication roused the Philippine nationalist movement.

In the Google Doodle, a quill is appeared on the left side, “a powerful tool that Jose Rizal used in his works and writings as he fought for the freedom of the Filipinos,” said Google. On the right: a magnifting glass, said to represent his time as a rehearsing ophthalmologist. On the bottom, one can likewise observe two books, likely representing the hero’s two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

Who is Jose Rizal?

Born in Calamba, Laguna on this day in 1861, Jose Rizal learned to read and write by age five. He got his secondary education in the city of Manila, and after that traveled overseas to study philosophy and medicine at the University of Madrid, the University of Paris, and the University of Heidelberg.

While he was living in Europe, Jose Rizal started publishing a series of works including Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) which set up him as a leading voice for reform in his homeland. His translation of Antonio De Morga’s 1609 Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas featured the accomplishments of Filipino society before Spanish colonization. He was additionally a frequent contributor of La Solidaridad, a newspaper published in Barcelona, where he advocated for the Philippines to be incorporated as a province of Spain with all the essential rights and representation given to the Filipino citizens.

Today, Jose Rizal is recognized as a Filipino national hero whose expression of love and devotion for his country in his novels, essays, and articles inspired a revolution. A landmark in Jose Rizal’s honor stands in Rizal Park situated in Roxas Boulevard, Manila.

Google has caused various doodles to recognize significant occasions in Philippine history, most recently Independence Day and the elections, yet has additionally incorporated the birthday events of famous Filipinos, for example, National Scientist Fe del Mundo and National Artist Levi Celerio.