WHEN we study history, everything seems to be the inevitable succession of great moments. We have been representing and explaining the facts with a certain degree of determinism and the revolutions or great changes seem to be a result of the natural evolution of things. However, among these great events that we must all memorize at school, there are great spaces that invite us to reflect. Leaving aside everything that has to do with political power and conflicts, there is a vast space inhabited by normal people who fell in love, celebrated their small successes, tried to raise their families, etc. Therein lies my pleasure in reading old newspapers, as they open a window to the past.

Taking advantage of the excellent collection of newspapers that the library of the University of Santo Tomás has digitized, I was reading with great pleasure the pages of the Diario de Manila, a newspaper that was published between December 1848 and June 1852. The monthly subscription cost P1, while buying a single number cost 2 reales.

The issue of November 30 brings, to my surprise, the collectible pages of a French serial: Le colère (Anger), a novel that was part of an heptalogy titled The Seven Deadly Sins. Its author, Eugène Sue, was the most famous novelist in Europe at that time. Serialized novels appeared at the bottom of the newspaper’s pages, and readers had to cut them out and collect them, then take them to a bookbinder, who would form a volume.

The most important news of that day was the Feast of San Andrés, which was celebrated every November 30. This was then the patron saint of Manila, as it was on Nov. 30, 1574, when the meager Spanish army was miraculously able to repel an attack by the feared Chinese pirate Limahong, far superior in number. The friars agreed that this victory had been achieved, thanks to the intercession of the saint and since then every November 30 had a celebration in Manila. The journalist from the Diario de Manila explains to his readers in a few paragraphs the reason for the anniversary.

This is followed by an apparent love poem “To Brígida,” which is actually a clever parody of the love poems of the time, with an emphatic style and full of clichés.

Next comes news from Spain and the world. It is reported that the Irish are emigrating en masse to the United States, although we are not told that the cause must have been the great famine that occurred on that island between 1845 and 1849. The area around Brussels suffered a severe flood and many towns were underwater. Cholera was wreaking havoc in Mexico.

In the “Religious Worship” section with information about all the religious festivities and the patterns of the day, we can read: “Today, Saturday the 30th of this month, the great feast of San Andrés will be celebrated in the Holy Cathedral Church, which commemorates one of the most glorious days of our weapons in these seas of India.” Then, Manileños are encouraged to attend said Mass, since the sermon was going to be given by Fr. Vicente Ayala, rector of the University of Santo Tomás, “one of the most famous preachers in these islands.”

We read that the Binondo Theater was performing “Los polvos de la madre Celestina” (The Magic Tricks of Mother Celestina), a contemporary romantic drama. In “the recreational section” we find a short fictional historical account set in the 16th century. It is clear that literature played a central role as a source of entertainment in Manila society in the 19th century.

Canvases, tables, carriages, guns and even shares of companies were sold on the last page, for the transaction of which one had to go in person through a specified address. Thanks to the “Navigation” section, we know that Manila was connected by sea with Cádiz (Spain), Hamburg (Germany), Singapore, southern China and even Lima, after stopping at the Sandwich Islands.

If something is surprising, it is the scarcity of news about what is happening in Manila or the Philippines, as if readers were more interested in knowing what was happening outside the archipelago. The next issue, the one for December 3, informs us that there was a great dance with food at the University of Santo Tomas in honor of Saint Andrew. He also informs that there are a large number of people who enter the theater to see the performances without paying the ticket, warning that if this continues, Mr. de la Escosura, the owner of the theater, will be forced to close it. Lastly, a person was run over in Manila by a carriage and the driver had been locked up in jail. The next number preserved in UST corresponds to Jan. 1, 1851, where we are informed of the death of a young captain in Calamianes, of the departure of a boat for Cádiz,

and of the beginning of the novena in the church of Quiapo. More interesting is the following note: “We draw attention to the poor condition of the Malate road [the main road that connected Manila with Cavite], due in large part to the lack of irrigation that its neighbors give it and the many piles of garbage with which they obstruct it, burning them so they barely make way for the carriages. We know that the mayor is trying to remedy it, and we do not doubt that with his indefatigable zeal he will be able to remedy it.” In the January 2 issue, we are informed that in Masinlao a person has killed a tulisan by crushing its head with a cane root. We would like to get more details, but nothing else is said.

We would like to know much more about the normal life of a Filipino in the mid-19th century. Searching among the recesses of these newspapers, which nobody consults today, it is possible to reconstruct pieces of lives, now forgotten.