It was during my last visit to Madrid, Spain, in the enchanting company of my late wife Carina and my two daughters, that we enjoyed the pleasure of day trips to the city of Toledo and also to El Escorial. Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial as it is known in Spanish is a vast grey granite pile of church-monastery-palace-mausoleum-college-library at the Sierra de Guadarrama, 48 kilometres from Madrid. It was built by King Philip II of Spain, to reflect his catholic piety and the military might of Spain which, during the 16th century, was the richest and most powerful nation.

The corner-stone of El Escorial was laid on April 23 of 1563 by Spanish architect Juan Bautista de Toledo (c. 1515 – 19-05-1567) who once worked with Michelangelo, and by the autumn of 1584, it was the Spanish architect Juan de Herrera (c. 1530 – 15-01-1597) who was there to look upon the finished work. Dedicated to the Spanish martyr Saint Lawrence on whose feast-day the battle of St. Quentin was fought in July, 1557 and won, El Escorial is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of Spain’s most visited landmarks.

Everything related to El Escorial holds an innate connection to Philip II who personally oversaw every detail of its planning and construction. Inside El Escorial, directly beneath the high altar of the Basilica of San Lorenzo el Real is the Pantheon of the Kings, a circular chamber where the remains of eleven Spanish monarchs are interred in royal burial vaults, among them Philip II himself. It was an amazing experience to be in close proximity of so many well-known monarchs since Charles V, as well as queen-consorts who produced heirs to the throne.   

Our extended visit to El Escorial naturally stirred up vivid thoughts in me, and during the months that followed our visit, I construed unhurriedly vast amount of information not only about El Escorial but attempted to retrace that age of exploratory voyages and the Spanish domains which, aside from the Iberian belongings, stretched from parts of central Europe to North Africa to the vast New World and beyond to the Philippines.

The Philippines is a country attracting a lot of attention. The Philippine Islands were discovered in 1521 by Magellan during the reign of Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor; he was Carlos/Charles I as King of Spain) whose only son and sole heir, Don Felipe (Philip II) was born on May 21, 1527.  

Since the Spanish conquest by conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi in 1564-71, the most fertile, accessible, and populous parts of the Philippines were under the dominion of Spain for more than three centuries. And so, even while the mass of the population retained many of the older customs; the dominant aspects of their life were western and Christian.

Today, we are on the first day of the New Year 2025, an ideal occasion to rewind 180 years backwards to January 1, 1845 when the Philippines updated its national calendar to align with the calendars being followed by other Asian countries.

That change came into effect when Tuesday, December 31, 1844 was skipped from the country’s calendar in accordance with the reform ordered by the Governor-General D. Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa (May, 1795-June, 1851). Hence, Monday, December 30, 1844 was followed by Wednesday, January 1, 1845.

A man of culture, probity, and industry, General Narciso Clavería’s great culture and love of work were intermixed with the most exquisite courtesy and the greatest probity. Endeavouring to deliver competent governance in the Philippines as good as that of his native country, Clavería undertook various developmental phases to promote agriculture, improve infrastructure within and in the suburbs of Manila (Maynila). Paying personal visits to the many provinces of the Philippines were steps he adopted in order to directly understand the needs of the Filipinos.

The series of orders, decrees and general provisions he initiated officially were eloquent testimony of the praiseworthy zeal and industry with which Clavería fulfilled his high functions. One of such initiative was the enactment of Clavería’s decree of November 21, 1849 regarding surname of the Filipinos. This decree enabled those Philippine citizens without surnames to officially adopt a family name based on the approved catalogue of family names (1).  

As for General Clavería’s order to remove one day, this reformation of the Calendar occurred during the beginning of his tenure as the Governor-General of the Philippines covering the period: July 16, 1844 to December 26, 1849.

The circumstance which led to the above mentioned decree had its beginnings in 1517 when Portuguese nobleman and navigator, Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães, c. 1480-1521) (2) submitted before Charles V (Carlos I) of Spain his proposal to discover rich islands in the East within the Spanish demarcation. Magellan received the certified approval of the King in May 1518, allowing him to set sail for the purpose of discovering a passage by the west to the part of the Ocean within the Spanish limits and demarcation. Magellan was also conferred with the highest military rank of Commander of the Order of Santiago by Charles V.

Commanding a fleet of five ships consisting of Victoria (the first ship to encircle the globe), La Trinidad, Concepción, San Antonio, and Santiago, and a crew of 270 men (elsewhere mentioned as 265 men), Magellan led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe by sailing from San Lucar on Saturday, September 20, 1519 having departed from Seville in early August, 1519. While Seville already had the honour of being the first maritime city of Spain, it was at Seville where Magellan married Beatriz Barbosa, the daughter of his relative in 1517.

It is generally assumed that Moluccas was Magellan’s destination even though it is not certain he had visited the Moluccas where the Portuguese had already reached. Anyhow, his arrival at the Philippine Islands culminated in its discovery by Europeans. Magellan initially called the islands St. Lazarus, but was renamed in 1542 as the Philippines after Philip II.

For 323 years since the arrival of Magellan in the Philippines on Wednesday, March 16, 1521, the territory of the Philippines had been one day behind the calendar of Europe. The error of one day occurred since, as part of the voyage, the course of Magellan’s sailing, circling Cape Horn, was towards the west in the path of the sun so that, upon his arrival in the Philippines, as per his timings, he was a day behind Europe (3).

Even though the error was known for centuries, this issue was not resolved until August 16, 1844, when General Clavería, in concurrence with the metropolitan Archbishop, agreed to skip once the last day of the year 1844 from the Philippine calendar – this last day being the day of the feast of Saint Sylvester 1 (c. 285 – December 31, 335). In other words, Clavería advanced the calendar by one day, so that it became consistent with world standard time. 

I have never been to the Republic of Philippines, yet. By now, I understand it is a country of more than 7,600 named and unnamed islands, stunning natural beauty, powder-white beaches, endless sun, historical attractions, charming resorts, delicious food and mostly lovely people. How could one not be pleased in such a place? Jo

Notes:

1. In many towns all these names began with the same letter of the alphabet.
2. Magellan was killed on Saturday, April 27, 1521, in the island of Mactan by natives of the Philippine Islands.
3. The most direct distance from Spain to the Philippines for navigation is about 24,000 kilometres via the Cape of Good Hope, and 15,500 kilometres via the Suez Canal.

(©Joseph Sébastine/Manningtree Archive)