IT ALL STARTED IN MOUNT MAKILING
Mount Makiling is one of Southeast Asia’s sacred/mystical mountains. It belongs to the league of Mt. Agung in Bali, Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, to name a few. It is located in the province of Laguna in the Philippines.
Legend has it that Maria Makiling was a goddess. FilipinaSoul better describes her here and who could tell the legend better than the great Rizal himself here.
Mount Makiling is a volcano – an inactive one, that is *whew! now I think y'know why I'm here*. Parts of the area are supplied with electricity produced from geothermal heat from this mountain. And it made Laguna the hot springs, mud springs, mineral baths centre and a very popular hiking treks of the country.
I would like to commend the efforts of those responsible for preserving the eco-system of this mountain -- UPLB. Lush forests, fresh air, ancient trees dotted the area and I can still hear the sounds of its’ abundant animals living in it. Considering Laguna is just an hour or so away from overly crowded Manila.
At the foot of Makiling is the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) – where the country’s future environmentalists, agro professionals and livestock moguls come from. The IRRI and Philippine Rice Research Institute are also nearby.
Mount Makiling isn’t just all these...
Mount Makiling is a heritage icon of the Tagalogs (the dominant ethnic group of the Philippines) – this mountain provided them legends and beliefs that made their distinct culture that eventually became the basis of all other cultures of the Philippines.
Legend has it that Maria Makiling was a goddess. FilipinaSoul better describes her here and who could tell the legend better than the great Rizal himself here.
Mount Makiling is a volcano – an inactive one, that is *whew! now I think y'know why I'm here*. Parts of the area are supplied with electricity produced from geothermal heat from this mountain. And it made Laguna the hot springs, mud springs, mineral baths centre and a very popular hiking treks of the country.I would like to commend the efforts of those responsible for preserving the eco-system of this mountain -- UPLB. Lush forests, fresh air, ancient trees dotted the area and I can still hear the sounds of its’ abundant animals living in it. Considering Laguna is just an hour or so away from overly crowded Manila.
At the foot of Makiling is the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) – where the country’s future environmentalists, agro professionals and livestock moguls come from. The IRRI and Philippine Rice Research Institute are also nearby.Mount Makiling isn’t just all these...
Mount Makiling is a heritage icon of the Tagalogs (the dominant ethnic group of the Philippines) – this mountain provided them legends and beliefs that made their distinct culture that eventually became the basis of all other cultures of the Philippines.
--Pisanu in Los Baños, Laguna
06 Feb 2009
06 Feb 2009
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10 Comments:
i remeber stories about maria makiling when i was still a kid, i'm not really sure if the stories i grew up with are accurate. what i remember is that she became so depressed because the people who promised to take care of the forest did't really took care of it..she fell into a deep sleep because of sadness, then she became the mountain itself..it sounds like mt. mayon's legend too.
thanks for mentioning that the mountain was mystical. i thought that was the best word to describe it. i can still remember the househelp who got possessed with some lost spirits that roamed the area while we were staying at a vacation home around the mountain (near the Boy Scouts of the Philippines camp) around 18 years ago.
wow. and I'm going to Los Banos on the 14th.
Will you still be here by that time?
thanks for the info! i hope you can have time to peep at my new blog. tnx.
i'll be spending my summer in uplb for the summer classes (i'm from a up campus in visayas), and i wanna take a hike in makiling. haha.
we read the legend of mt. makiling during elementary and it just made me sleepy. ü. but i appreciate your effort in promoting the mystic mountain and the philippines and the rest of southeast asia.
enjoy...
I vaguely remember a legend told to me when I was young about Sinukuan (the deity of Mt. Arayat in Pampanga) trying to woo Maria Makiling. As a challenge he was tasked to build a mountain bridge from Arayat to Makiling (Sierra Madre) but he was unsuccessful as he was not able to connect the mountains in time (Sorry, I no longer remember the time constraint given to Sinukuan hehehe!!!)
maria makiling's story was already tainted with spanish influence.
just look at the name. "maria"
toinkz!
Wohoo! I live in San Pedro (about 30 km from LB), and Mt. Makiling is quite visible from our roof top. Haha! I enjoy the hot springs here.
Also try the famous Buko Pie (coconut meat pie) great for "pasalubong". Adios.
oh my if only i can interview all you people for my MA thesis on maria makiling! I need to collect different variants of the makiling tales since Resil Mojares mentioned in one of his books that there are a thousand variants!
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