What did Andres Bonifacio wear?

[alifigueroa]

I'm working on a theater production feauturing heroes from various periods in Philippine history. One of the more difficult issues we face is deciding what Andres Bonifacio wore, especially to battle.

I have some insights/conclusions, and I need help to see if they're valid or workable:

The image of the white camisa and red pants is definitely iconic, but it's pretty well-established that the artists who use that image use a lot of creative license.

The only photo of Bonifacio shows him wearing a suit. But that's a studio portrait more than anything.

With regard to uniform, I gather that the revolutionary army adopted uniforms only after 1896, but probably wore outfits inspired by Spanish-style rayadillo even earlier.

But the bottom-line question is, what did he wear?

Next, do you think it's acceptable to stylize/make a judgment call? I wanted to dress Bonifacio in a Revolutionary Army Captain General's costume (white or rayadillo top), with a red lanyard/aigulletes, red breeches, and riding boots. I wanted to emphasize his 'supremacy' and authority, I guess.

[jnmodeller]

i think your on the right track, Perry aka pedroscpllection can help you.

[RayAdillO]

I don't think Bonifacio ever personally wore red pants either as supremo of the Katupunan when it was still a secret society or when it went out in open revolt against the Spanish.

Note that Aguinaldo much later on when he became president specifically clothed his own "presidential guard" with red pants. If anything, Aguinaldo would be the last guy who would want his most loyal battalions to be reminded of Bonifacio as red trousers would have undoubtedly symbolized.

Did Bonifacio wear rayadillo? I doubt it very much either, for the simple reason that the Spanish were the ones who wore it. It would cause confusion in battle for friend and foe alike. He could be shot by his own men who could easily mistake him for a mestizo NCO or officer in Spanish army service. Also, for a "rebel" to be caught by Spanish troops wearing rayadillo could well mean summary execution for being a spy or impersonating a soldier in the Spanish army.

Yes there is that old picture of Bonifacio wearing rayadillo, but it is not a photo, it is an artist's illustration. I suspect that it was done only after the revolution, perhaps even as late as the 1920s or 30s.

Rayadillo uniforms I believe became standard to the Filipino forces only after the Spanish surrendered to the Americans. Of course by the time of the Fil-Am War, there could be no mistake that the opposing sides wore very different uniforms from each other.

So what did Bonifacio wear?

The Katipunan rank and file may not have had a stricly standardized uniform or look, but as supreme leader Bonifacio must have had one and for the officers as well. To beign with, they issued a system of ranks which were actually worn.....

For officers...cuff insignia, (authorized by the katipunan up until October 1896). Yes I know the illustration shows these to be sewn over rayadillo uniforms, but for the reasons I mentioned, it should more probably be white or "off-white" uniforms.


Note photo of katipunan officers wearing the cuff insignia. Also note the peculiar "baseball cap" headgear worn by the two leftmost officers (the officer on the far left just visible). Unforms may look rayadillo, but my guess is that they are "off white" like the color of cheese cloth or "katsa".


Here is a picture of Aguinaldo with his officers. The photo was taken after Aguinaldo agreed to surrender to the Spanish since Pedro Paterno (sitting at left) is with them in this mug shot. Paterno was the guy who negotiated the surrender. Also note no more cuff insignia. The curious thing about it is that some of them including Aguinaldo are still wearing thier pistol lanyards. It seems the Spanish allowed them to keep their sidearms?


Again, note that Aguinaldo (seated rightmost) and his brother Baldomero (standing behind Paterno), plus the man behind Aguinaldo are all sporting that "baseball cap" again. I think the "baseball cap" may well have been worn by Bonifacio himself since they tend to be worn by high officers in the Katipunan. Remember that Aguinaldo was after all also part of the Katipunan even if he was the head of a rival faction.

From the same series of photos, Aguinaldo, Paterno and company on board a train journey to a boat leading to exile in Hong Kong


I don't know when this picture of Aguinaldo was taken, (before or after Bonifacio's liquidation but likely after October 1896), but I think this general attire is what Bonifacio would have also worn. The hat, the white uniform, boots, sword, lanyard and pistol.


I think this is the look Bonifacio also would have, but with the cuff insignia of "ministro" or "kapitan heneral".

Details on the hat........

Note that this "baseball" type hat was DISTINCTLY used only by the Katipunan during 1896-1897, and ONLY by high ranking officers, The Spanish did not wear it, the Americans did not wear it, even the Philippine Republican Army of 1898 under Aguinaldo's presidency did not wear it. Yet it was obviously very practical and modern looking as a form of military headgear....WAS PART OF THE REASON BECAUSE IT WAS ORGINIALLY THE SIGNATURE HEADGEAR OF BONIFACIO?

It also somewhat reminds me of the ones the north koreans wear today....

Without the sideflaps and north korean army insignia of course. ;D

[VeeVee]

Aug 21, 2010 1:34:46 GMT -5 alifigueroa said:

I'm working on a theater production feauturing heroes from various periods in Philippine history. One of the more difficult issues we face is deciding what Andres Bonifacio wore, especially to battle.

I have some insights/conclusions, and I need help to see if they're valid or workable:

The image of the white camisa and red pants is definitely iconic, but it's pretty well-established that the artists who use that image use a lot of creative license.

The only photo of Bonifacio shows him wearing a suit. But that's a studio portrait more than anything.

With regard to uniform, I gather that the revolutionary army adopted uniforms only after 1896, but probably wore outfits inspired by Spanish-style rayadillo even earlier.

But the bottom-line question is, what did he wear?

Next, do you think it's acceptable to stylize/make a judgment call? I wanted to dress Bonifacio in a Revolutionary Army Captain General's costume (white or rayadillo top), with a red lanyard/aigulletes, red breeches, and riding boots. I wanted to emphasize his 'supremacy' and authority, I guess.

Awesome! Please post info about your theater program/show that you're doing this for. Showtimes, venue and so on... I'm sure many will be interested.

Ray, another excellent input from you Cheers!

[RayAdillO]

Glad you liked it VeeVee. ;D

It would have been much better if the Katipunan just used picklehauben, even with rayadillo they wouldn't be mistaken for spanish, he, he.........







Or the "Katipunan" could have used moro insipiration and come up with one good helmet.




No problems with raydillo or red pants.

[alifigueroa]

Thank you very very much, everyone. All this input is extremely helpful.

Establishing a visual distinction between Bonifacio's Katipunan and Aguinaldo's revolutionary government was also top of mind.

Regarding the red pants, I think it was the way by which artists visually linked Bonifacio with the Katipunan flag. The insight that Aguinaldo would not have clothed his guards with anything that Bonifacio wore is definitely thought-provoking.

The eradication of pieces of Bonifacio-associated uniform and regalia after his execution is also an interesting idea. I noticed that while Santiago Alvarez talks about cuff insignia in "The Katipunan and the Revolution" we hardly see any on Filipino uniforms after Bonifacio's era.

Will update all of you regarding performances and post photos of what we're able to put together. Things are still in the very early stages now, and we're beginning by staging short pieces for grade school and high school kids.

[sumaquel]

Have you seen Emilio Jacinto popular historical photo?his in uniform in that photo right? I believe that what he is wearing is the same uniform that Bonifacio is also wearing during the revolution(panget naman kasi na nakauniform si Jacinto tapos naka-farmers dress lang si Bonifacio)

Macario Sakay was also a very good source for Katipunan uniform, sina "Sakay" ay mga Fanatic/diehards Katipunan followers.....I believe that the "traditions" of Katipunan were religously followed by Sakay's group..... at siyempre kasama na dito ang paggamit ng uniform ng Katipunan....

[sumaquel]

Isa pang magandang source ay yung uniform na suot ni Jacinto at ng mga taong nakapalibot sa bangkay nito ng siya ay mamatay sa pagsanjan......I read somewhere that they(Jacinto and his Katipunan group)have separate Katipunan government in Pagsanjan during fil-am war and that they also fougth the americans in their jurisdiction......

Naniniwala ako na yung mga uniforms na suot nila ay Bonifacio Period "Katipunan Uniform".....

[sumaquel]

Sorry Majayjay Laguna pala and not Pagsanjan.....

[RayAdillO]

Salamat Katipon Sumaquel. Pansin niyo rin ang suot na sumbrero ng mismong auwtor ng kartilya?


Ibang kulay lang nga sa suot ni Aguinaldo, my guess is it's black ( maaring dahil i think original katipunan colors were red, black and white?...or maybe because he's dead?.

I don't think these are happenstance, the Katipunan was a movement patterned after the masonic model. Masons are very particular about insignias, paraphernalias, rituals and other symbolisms. That "baseball-style" hat must have had some significance as a symbol of office or position within the Katipunan....so much so that (along with his rifle) it even became part of Jacinto's funeral attire, like a Templar knight's effigy in a burial chapel.

And this funeral wake was in 1899 already. As you mentioned, medyo "die hard" Katipunan si Emilio Jacinto, he most likely would never have used any insignia or uniform officially adopted by Aguinaldo's 1898 republican army.

[RayAdillO]

Aug 22, 2010 1:57:12 GMT -5 alifigueroa said:

Thank you very very much, everyone. All this input is extremely helpful.

Establishing a visual distinction between Bonifacio's Katipunan and Aguinaldo's revolutionary government was also top of mind.

Regarding the red pants, I think it was the way by which artists visually linked Bonifacio with the Katipunan flag. The insight that Aguinaldo would not have clothed his guards with anything that Bonifacio wore is definitely thought-provoking.

The eradication of pieces of Bonifacio-associated uniform and regalia after his execution is also an interesting idea. I noticed that while Santiago Alvarez talks about cuff insignia in "The Katipunan and the Revolution" we hardly see any on Filipino uniforms after Bonifacio's era.

Will update all of you regarding performances and post photos of what we're able to put together. Things are still in the very early stages now, and we're beginning by staging short pieces for grade school and high school kids.

Glad to be of help Sir, these are just suggestions but we hope they will prove useful.

Looking forward in seeing your production pics! ;D

[pedroscollection]

Hi There;

1. Regarding the RED pants - I believe Bonifacio & not only him, many Katipunan members used this in the 1st Battle - the Battle 0f Pinaglabanan in Aug 1896. But not always....

2. Before the Aug 1896 outbreak - he wore the following :

2.1 - Bonifacio is a Supervisor in a railway track in Tondo so he used to wear the middle class dress. So its accurate to dress him the middle class civilian dress of the period

2.2 - Bonifacio as mentioned to me by historians, love to look good & his photo wearing an old style Americana dress even with a tall black hat like a Magician similar to Rizal was one of his favorite to wear. So its accurate to use this also

3. Why Bonifacio always protrayed as very poor, with Camiseta & Red pants & often barefoot - its part of the Artist interpretation in their artworks to depict Bonifacio as leader of the masses & the poor that's why they project Bonifacio always with a poor dress to add drama, passion. But I believe this is not accurate.

4. What Bonifacio wore in Battle? A historian told me that he used to wore Rayadillo also. But if you place a Rayadillo - you may use the design shown above by "RayAdillo" not the Rayadillo design during Luna's regime that has 2 horizontal breast pockets (English Norfolk Style pockets) on the chest. & Do not place ranks on the shoulder since this existed only after his death.

5. Sorry my computer cannot paste pictures here maybe some friends can help me, I also gave them the copy. If you'll protray Aug to Oct 1896 - the ranks you must place is the 1st evolution of the rank which was placed on the left chest or left arm as armband

6. If you protray Oct 1896 till his death, the Rayadillo design he can wear has the rank atached on the photo above by "RayAdillo" above which the ranks was placed on the sleeves of the uniform.

7. Note that its very seldom he carry his Tabak, only pistol. But somethimes / occassionaly he does, but not always like his pistol. So during the play - for accuracy you may show his tabak occassionally unlike his pistol.

8. For accuracy & to correct the norm made by artist & educate a more accurate / authentic protrayal of Bonifacio- dress Bonifacio as I recommedned on the items above.

Mabuhay;
Perry

[alifigueroa]

Again, thank you very much, especially to Perry, whose recent comments are very enlightening and helpful.

I'm attaching a current, very rough sketch just to show everyone the work in progress. I have not read Perry's post when I did this, so it's not yet that accurate. (I'm glad I don't have to put the shoulderboards. They were the most difficult part of the costume to construct anyway.)

The timetable's very near Bonifacio's death, but the scene is set now. It's living history, where the audience gets to encounter Andres, Oryang, Jacinto, and some Katipuneros.



The elements are.

1. Katipunan cap (have not decided color yet. The safest is off-white, but maybe black would be appropriate).

2. Rayadillo style top, with vertical pockets and brass buttons, but in plain off-white fabric. This is worn over a standard white tab-collared and French-cuffed undershirt (which can be seen peeking out of most of the uniforms of the era.)

3. Cuff insignia. I was thinking of adding one more bar to the Ministro insignia to indicate his rank of Pangulong Supremo ng Haring Bayang Katagalugan (which covers the whole archipelago, by the way).

4. I couldn't resist still using red pants, for symbolic effect, and in the name of artistic tradition. This is a reimagining, anyway. However, this isn't a very strong/committed decision on my part as of now. But the pants are breeches, and are cut loose/full. (He runs a lot in the production, and I wanted a unique look.)

5. Black riding boots.

6. The belt would be under the jacket, as in the photo of Aguinaldo, and the pistol holster attached to the belt through a hole in the jacket. If Bonifacio carries a pistol, he will definitely wear a black pistol lanyard on his neck.

I'm still thinking of whether to use a red lanyard or aigullettes.

Comments are most welcome, especially criticism/corrections. I'd love to know what is both appropriate and educational for the audience. In the meantime, I shall continue to work on this, with all the additional in mind.

[paopadd]

Here a short message i posted here on : Re: Aguinaldo's Red Brigade
« Reply #5 on Nov 18, 2008, 8:48am »

At the beginning of the revolution The filipino fighters of the Katipunan wore no standard uniform exept the Katipuneros of the " Supremo ", Andres Bonifacio ; on a spanish account on the battle of San juan del Monte, in 1896 we can found out the following interesting words: " they ( the insurgents ) wore red trousers and white shirts... "
Maybe the tradition of red trousers for some particular corps start in 1896 until the Aguinaldo's period....

[RayAdillO]

That is one beautiful uniform right there. If you are not comfortable with the "baseball hat" (because I have never heard any historical research or reference about it save for pictures), you can use the traditional upong salakot. Paopadd has a picture of one used by the supremo within this forum.

[pedroscollection]

Hello Alifigueroa;

That's a nice design, just few more inputs / suggestions :

1. Remove the rank on the shoulder ( as you also mentioned)

2. Make the cuff rank the highest - ministro

3. Remove the 2 horizontal pocket deisng on the breast - this was Luna's design after Andres' death

4. Remove the collar pin insignia - this was Luna's design after Andres' death

5. Remove the piping on the red pants - piping became a distinction for branches existed also during Luna after Andres' death.

6. You may use Teresiana hat, White Kepi hat as designed / influenced by the Spanish or a Traditional Upo Salakot. I believe either Paopad or Macky Hosalla have research photo on that hat.

7. Retain the rest of the design - its very nice & accurate too - di lang basta maganda kahit mali ilalagay mapaganda lang tulad ng gawa ng iba. From your design & our inputs - you'll have a strong historical basis.

Mabuhay;
Perry

[RayAdillO]

Stumbled upon this on ebay...the hat could well be a masonic influence.

cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-MASONIC-LODGE-NIAGARA-NO-64-CAP-HAT-/350383311079?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51947908e7





Actually, as Perry mentioned, it does reflect typical military officer's undress caps during the late victorian period, including the french kepi and the spanish teresiana also. One difference in the ones used by the katipunan is that they look like soft caps (no internal stiffening?) plus the visors are not leather but made of the same cloth material and color as the hats themselves.

We now know that there are spanish accounts Bonifacio's men wore white with red pants. ( suggesting red pants may not have originated from the persona of Bonifacio? I do know Bonifacio was not the original head of the Katipunan, it was actually Deodato Arellano and then Ramon Basa whom he deposed, could that have a significance?

There is still the question, did Bonifacio himself wear red pants? Assuming he did, you already have red flags, you already have a bodyguard corps wearing red pants but there are no period pictures of katipunan officers wearing pants different from the shade of their jackets to suggest they also wore red pants.

Here are my suggestions:

1) Have Bonifacio wear a white jacket, better yet an "off-white to slightly beige". Yes there's a chance he may have worn rayadillo, but he certainly must have worn a white-off white jacket.

Besides, if you have Aguinaldo somewhere later in the production wearing rayadillo, all the better to show the transition and difference of personalities.

2) No shoulder boards but the cuff insignia is fine, unique in that it has never been presented in any film or play, yet the katipunan did wear them for a time.

3) Red pants? White Pants? If it's just Bonifacio, go for red. If it's Bonifacio with followers in red pants plus a lot of red flags?...go for white pants if you want bonifacio to stand out from among his followers.

4) The hat or salakot? If you want a sort of "traditional proletarian" representation of Bonifacio then go for the salakot.

If you want a unique and new yet historically viable projection of a "masonic Bonifacio" then go for the hat. You have enough photo evidence to show that many katipunan officers actually wore it anyway.

5) Give Bonifacio some boots, maybe not as fancy as Aguinaldos but some good decent high boots.

6) Pistol, pistol lanyard, and pistol holster (leather holster preferably matching the color of boots.

7) Itak , tabak, or bolo? The problem is that offcers of the period in the Philippine setting normally wore the belts under their jackets. Pistol holsters and swords were suspended by hooks and chains or leather straps fastended to the waistbelt through side slits in the jacket. A traditional Philippine bolo is worn with a belt or string across the waist and "outside" the shirt or jacket. So you may have to suspend his bolo sheath the traditional way or the alternative is have bonifacio wear it like a saber sword.

8) For style of jacket, best to copy from this photo for that Katipunan period accuracy to avoid the vertical pocket flaps...


Brass buttons will look nice, no pockets, plus stand-and-fall collars.

Later period katipunan

Note that the style of Aguinaldos' during this period (and that of Paterno) have hidden buttons and may have what look like vertical side pocket slits, but there are no pocket flaps like the later pattern of the 1st republican period.

1st Republican Officer's style jackets, (Post Katipunan, 1898-onwards)

[dimasalang]

Just thought I'd add these photos for reference to the cap. The cap looks like a short brimmed cap.

Gregorio Del Pilar


Juan Cailles




Officers

[insurrectomad]

The colour of the uniform would differ between officers and lower ranks due to the quality of the cloth I think. Lower ranks would have the beige colour of unbleached calico or cotton, which would then whiten as it was repeatedly washed and bleached by the sun. Officers would I believe have a white linen uniform from day one! --David

[alifigueroa]

Again, thank you for all the help and information. I'm actually having the first version of the uniform made (near Camp Crame) already. Will post photos as soon as they're available. Our project's ongoing so we have time to make tweaks and revisions as we go along.

I'll also start a new thread, about what Jacinto wore. Thank you very much.