AI illustration
Diwata ng Kalikasan (Lambana of Mt. Banahaw)
Many people see Mount Banahaw in Quezon as a holy mountain. Pilgrims visit its springs and caves, called puestos. Stories speak of diwata and lambana, nature spirits, that live on the mountain.
Folklore is retold; versions differ.
Sources: Wikipedia: Mount Banahaw (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikidata (CC0)
The story
Mount Banahaw stands between Laguna and Quezon. It is the highest peak in both provinces and in Calabarzon. Its summit holds a large caldera that opens to the south, probably from the 1730 eruption, which sent mud down onto the town of Sariaya. For many Filipinos, the mountain is a bundok dambana, a holy mountain. Pilgrims come to climb, pray and bathe at its springs.
The sacred spots are called puestos. Each one is a spring, cave, stream or boulder, often with a Biblical name and a shrine. Believers say a man named Agripino Lontoc learned where these places are from a voice they call the Santong Boses, the Holy Voice. Many people treat the spring water as holy water.
Stories about nature spirits fit this setting. A diwata is a spirit of a place, and people use lambana for fairy-like beings. Tellers say they live on the mountain and guard it. No old record names a single diwata of Banahaw. Treat the spirit stories as local belief that grew beside the pilgrim tradition.