Maria Makiling

The name "Mariang Makiling" is the Spanish-Tagalog contraction of "Maria ng Makiling" (Maria of Makiling). The term is a Hispanicized evolution of an alternate name for the Diwata, "Dayang Makiling"-"dayang" being an Austronesian word meaning "princess" or "noble lady".[3] Prior to the conversion of the natives to Christianity, Maria Makiling was already known as Makiling, an anito sent by Bathala in Mount Makiling to aid mankind in their daily tasks. The "Maria" was added by the Spanish in a bid to rebrand her as Catholic, after the Virgin Mary.[4]

Professor Grace Odal of the University of the Philippines believes there is a significant link between Maria Makiling and the mythical woman (Ba'i) for whom the town of Bay and the lake of Laguna de Bay are named. When the lady of the lake also became associated with the nearby mountain, the common description of her became that of the "lady of the mountain".[3]

As for the word "Makiling", it has been noted that the mountain rises from Laguna de Bay "to a rugged top and breaks into irregular hills southward, thus 'leaning' or 'uneven.'" The Tagalog word for "leaning" or "uneven" is "makiling".[1] This corresponds with the common belief that the profile of the mountain resembles that of a reclining woman, from certain angles.

A less often mentioned possible origin for the name of the mountain is that the name describes the mountain as having plenty of the bamboo variety known as "kawayang kiling" (Bambusa vulgaris schrad). By this etymology, the mountain would have been named after the bamboo and the lady named after the mountain.[5]

One superstition is that every so often, men would disappear into the forests of the mountain. It is said that Makiling has fallen in love with that particular man and has taken him to her house to be her husband, to spend his days in matrimonial bliss. Another superstition says that one can go into the forests and pick and eat any fruits one might like, but never carry any of them home. In doing so, one runs the risk of angering Maria Makiling. One would get lost and be beset by insect stings and thorn pricks. The only solution is to throw away the fruit and then to reverse one's clothing as evidence to Maria that one is no longer carrying any of her fruit.

Perhaps the most common "full" story is that of Maria turning ginger into gold to help one villager or the other.[1][2][6][7] In these stories, Maria is said to live in a place known to the villagers and interacts with them regularly. The villager in question is often either a mother seeking a cure for her ill child or a husband seeking a cure for his wife.

The wise Maria recognizes the symptoms as signs not of disease, but of hunger brought about by extreme poverty. She gives the villager some ginger, which, by the time the villager gets home, has magically turned to gold

In versions where the villager is going home to his wife, he unwisely throws some of the ginger away because it had become too heavy to carry.

In some versions, the villagers love her all the more for her act of kindness.

In most, however, greedy villagers break into Maria's garden to see if her other plants were really gold. Distressed by the villager's greed, Maria runs away up the mountain, her pristine white clothing soon becoming indistinguishable from the white clouds that play amongst the trees on the upper parts of the mountains.

In many other stories, Makiling is characterized as a spurned lover.

In one story, she fell in love with a hunter who had wandered into her kingdom. Soon the two became lovers, with the hunter coming up the mountain every day. They promised to love each other forever. When Maria discovered that he had met, fell in love with, and married a mortal woman, she was deeply hurt. Realizing that she could not trust townspeople because she was so different from them, and that they were just using her, she became angry and refused to give fruits to the trees, let animals and birds roam the forests for hunters to catch, and let fish abound in the lake. People seldom saw her, and those times when she could be seen were often only during pale moonlit nights.[2]

In another version of the story, told by the Philippines' National Hero, Jose Rizal, Maria falls in love with a farmer, whom she then watches over. This leads the townspeople say he is endowed with a charm, or mutya, as it is called, that protected him from harm. The young man was good at heart and simple in spirit, but also quiet and secretive. In particular, he would not say much of his frequent visits into the wood of Maria Makiling. But then war came to the land, and army officers came recruiting unmarried young men. The man entered an arranged marriage so that he could stay safely in the village. A few days before his marriage, he visits Maria one last time. "I hope that you were devoted to me," she said sadly, "but you need an earthly love, and you do not have enough faith in me besides. I could have protected you and your family." After saying this, she disappeared. Maria Makiling was never seen by the peasants again, nor was her humble hut ever rediscovered.[7]

Michelle Lanuza tells another version of the story, set during the later part of the Spanish occupation:[6]

Maria was sought for and wooed by many suitors, three of whom were the Captain Lara, a Spanish soldier; Joselito, a Spanish mestizo studying in Manila; and Juan who was but a common farmer. Despite his lowly status, Juan was chosen by Maria Makiling.

Spurned, Joselito and Captain Lara conspired to frame Juan for setting fire to the cuartel of the Spanish. Juan was shot as the enemy of the Spaniards. Before he died, he cried Maria's name out loud.

The diwata quickly came down from her mountain while Captain Lara and Joselito fled to Manila in fear of Maria's wrath. When she learned what happened, she cursed the two, along with all other men who cannot accept failure in love.

Soon, the curse took effect. Joselito suddenly contracted an incurable illness. The revolutionary Filipinos killed Captain Lara.

"From then on," Lanuza concludes, "Maria never let herself be seen by the people again. Every time somebody gets lost on the mountain, they remember the curse of the diwata. Yet they also remember the great love of Maria Makiling."

Kapampangan mythology, however, has a lesser view of Dayang Makiling.[8] Legend has it that Apung Suku, a prominent Kapampangan leader, heard reports of strange taga-ilog (river dwellers) trespassing and violating Kapampangan lands. These strange people cut down trees planted and harvested by the industrious Kapampangans. Apung Suku went to the trespassers and told them to flee. The trespassers threatened that they would return with an army led by their Dayang Makiling.

This threat passed when a navy of fast boats sped through the Pampanga River, and the taga-ilog ravaged the land. Apung Suku led men to dam the Pampanga River, reversing the flow and trapping the invaders. Dayang Makiling accepted that her army had lost, then surrendered. Henceforth, Apung Suku was known as Ápûng Sínukuan (literally "to whom one submits" in Pampangan), preserving the memory that the taga-ilog dayang surrendered to him.

In some versions of the legend, the dayang Makiling submitted herself to union with Ápûng Sínukuan. This reversed the historical Tagalog matriarchy, for now their dayang submitted to a Kapampangan chieftain with patriarchal trappings. Their three daughters all married mortal men, from where the Kapampangan people sprang forth.