Melchora Aquino: Difference between revisions

{{about|the national hero also known as Tandang Sora|the road|Tandang Sora Avenue}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}

{{Use Philippine English|date=December 2022}}

| name = Melchora Aquino

| image = Melchora Aquino (portrait).jpg

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1812|1|6|mf=y}}<ref name="Tandang Sora">{{cite book|title=Language Arts for the Filipino Learners: An Integrated Language and Reading Work-a-Text for Grade Four: Volume One|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g0UP7D0Pm48C&pg=PA106|publisher=Rex Bookstore, Inc.|isbn=978-971-23-1402-5|pages=106–}}</ref>

| birth_place = [[Caloocan|Banlat, Kalookan]], [[Manila (province)|Manila]], [[Captaincy General of the Philippines]], [[Spanish Empire]]

| death_place = [[Caloocan|Banlat, Kalookan]], [[Rizal (province)|Rizal]], [[Insular Government of the Philippine Islands]]

| spouse = {{marriage|Fulgencio Ramos||1856|reason=his death}} <!-- Geni -->

'''Melchora Aquino''' (January 6, 1812 – February 19, 1919) was a [[Filipinos|Filipino]] revolutionary. She became known as "'''Tandang Sora'''" ("tandang" meaning "old") because of her age during the [[Philippine Revolution]].

She was known as the "Grand Woman of the Revolution" and the "Mother of Balintawak" for her contributions.

Known as the "Mother of Revolution", Tandang Sora was born on January 6, 1812, in Barrio Banlat, [[Caloocan]] (the present-day Barangay Tandang Sora, [[Quezon City]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/the-tandang-sora-bicentennial/|title=The Tandang Sora bicentennial|website=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines|access-date=February 26, 2021}}</ref>

Tandang Sora, daughter of a peasant couple, Juan and Valentina Aquino, never attended school.<ref name=":0" /> However, she was apparently literate at an early age and talented as a singer and performed at local events as well as at [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] for her Church. She was also often chosen for the role of ''Reyna Elena'' during the "[[Flores de Mayo|Santacruzan]]", a processional pageant commemorating [[Helena (Empress)|Empress Helen's]] finding of the [[True Cross|Cross of Christ]], celebrated in the Philippines in May.<ref name = "Tandang Sora"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filipiknow.net/surprising-facts-about-melchora-aquino/|title=5 Surprising Facts About Melchora Aquino ('Tandang Sora')|date=March 19, 2014}}</ref>

Later in life, she married Fulgencio Ramos,<ref name = "Tandang Sora"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Fulgencio-Ramos/6000000176561941821|title=Fulgencio Ramos|website=Geni.com|date=September 23, 2023 |accessdate=October 21, 2023}}</ref> a ''cabeza de barrio'' (village chief), and bore six children. As his wife she was known as '''Melchora Aquino de Ramos''' ("of Ramos"). Her husband died when their youngest child was 7 and she was left as a single parent for their children. Tandang Sora continued her life as an ''hermana mayor'' active in celebrating ''[[Festival|fiestas]]'', [[baptism]]s, and weddings. She worked hard in order to give her children education.<ref name="Tandang Sora"/>

In her native town, Tandang Sora operated a store,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313288036|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313288036/page/207 207]|title=Chronology of women's history|editor=Kirstin Olsen|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1994|isbn=9780313288036}}</ref> which became a refuge for the sick and wounded revolutionaries. She fed,<ref name="Tandang Sora"/> gave medical attention to and encouraged the revolutionaries with motherly advice and prayers.

Secret meetings of the [[Katipuneros]] (revolutionaries) were also held at her house in August 1896. Due to the maternal nature of her help for the revolution, she received names such as "Woman of Revolution", "Mother of Balintawak<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Doran |first=Christine |date=1998 |title=Women in the Philippine Revolution |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42634272 |journal=Philippine Studies |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=361–375 |jstor=42634272 |access-date=2024-04-14 }}</ref>", "Mother of the [[Philippine Revolution]]", and ''Tandang Sora'' (''Tandang'' is derived from the [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] word ''matandâ'', which means old). She and her son, Juan Ramos, were present in the [[Cry of Balintawak]] and were witnesses to the tearing up of the ''[[Community Tax Certificate|cedulas]]''.<ref name = "Tandang Sora"/><ref name="cebu">{{cite news|url=https://www.philstar.com/cebu-lifestyle/2012/01/19/768868/tandang-sora-bicentennial-woman|title=Tandang Sora: Bicentennial woman|author=Lola Elyang|date=January 19, 2012|accessdate=December 30, 2021|work=The Philippine Star|location=Cebu, Philippines}}</ref>

After the [[United States took control of the Philippines]] in 1898, Tandang Sora, like other exiles, returned to the Philippines in 1903. She later became an active member of the [[Philippine Independent Church]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=On Tandang Sora's 203rd birth anniversary |url=https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2015/01/09/1410961/tandang-soras-203rd-birth-anniversary |last=Torrevillas |first=Domini M. |date=January 9, 2015 |work=[[The Philippine Star]] |access-date=November 8, 2022}}</ref>

==Death==

She died at her daughter Saturnina's house in Banlat on February 19, 1919, at the age of 107.<ref name="Tandang Sora"/> She received full state honors shortly after her death after years of being unnoticed for her efforts in the revolution.<ref name=":0" /> Her remains were first interred at the [[Mausoleum of the Veterans of the Revolution]] at the [[Manila North Cemetery]].<ref name=declared>{{cite news |title=Tandang Sora's birthplace declared a national shrine |url=https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/155677/tandang-soras-birthplace-declared-a-national-shrine |access-date=November 4, 2018 |newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer |date=March 3, 2012}}</ref> These were then transferred to the Himlayang Pilipino Memorial Park in [[Quezon City]] in 1970 and finally at the [[Tandang Sora National Shrine]] in 2012.<ref name="reinterment">{{cite web |url = http://www.philstar.com/nation/article.aspx?publicationsubcategoryid=65&articleid=765181 |title = P-Noy to lead re-interment of Tandang Sora's remains |publisher = Worldcoingallery.com }}</ref><ref name="inq">{{cite news |url = http://opinion.inquirer.net/20595/tandang-sora-home-on-her-200th-birthday |title = Tandang Sora home on her 200th birthday |access-date = January 8, 2012 |last = Ocampo |first = Ambeth |author-link = Ambeth Ocampo|newspaper = [[Philippine Daily Inquirer]] }}</ref><ref name="pna">{{cite news|url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1058460|title=Tandang Sora gets flowers on 207th birth rites|first=Severino|last=Samonte|date=January 9, 2019|work=Philippine News Agency}}</ref>

[[Image:Melchora100pesos.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Melchora Aquino, as depicted on the ''[[English Series]]'' 100 [[Philippine peso|pesos]] [[Banknotes of the Philippine peso|banknote]].]]

As a token of gratitude, a [[Quezon City]] barangay and a [[Tandang Sora Avenue|road]] were named after Tandang Sora. Her profile was also placed in the [[Philippine five-centavo coin|Philippines' five-centavo coin]] from 1967 to 1994. She was the first Filipina who appears on a [[Banknotes of the Philippine peso|Philippine peso banknote]], in this case, a [[Philippine one hundred-peso note|100-peso bill]] from the English Series (1951–1966). Tandang Sora Street in the city of [[San Francisco]] is named in her honor.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

In 2012, on the celebration of her 200th birthday, the Quezon City local government decided to transfer Tandang Sora's remains from Himlayang Pilipino Memorial Park to the [[Tandang Sora National Shrine]]. They also declared 2012 as be Tandang Sora Year.<ref name="reinterment" /><ref name="inq" />

[[File:Novaliches_Quezon_City_District_Metro_Manila_02.jpg |thumb|200px|Bust at Placido del Mundo Elementary School in [[Novaliches]], [[Quezon City]]]]

Her descendants carry different surnames, with almost all living in Novaliches and Tandang Sora districts in Quezon City as well as in Guam such as Figueroa, Ramos (her husband's surname), Geronimo, Eugenio, Cleofas and Apo.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Heirs want Tandang Sora holiday declared|url = http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/123803/heirs-want-tandang-sora-holiday-declared|website = newsinfo.inquirer.net|access-date = September 4, 2015|last = INQUIRER.net| date=January 7, 2012 }}</ref>

A [[Philippine Coast Guard]] {{convert|97|m|sp=us|adj=on}} vessel was named after her, the [[BRP Melchora Aquino (MRRV-9702)|BRP ''Melchora Aquino'']].

* Referenced in the song "Babae" by Inang Laya

==External links==

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