Maria Cacao is the ''

diwata ''Anito'', also spelled ''anitu'', refers to ancestor spirits, nature spirits, and deities in the indigenous Philippine folk religions from the precolonial age to the present, although the term itself may have other meanings and associa ...

'' or mountain goddess associated with Mount Lantoy in Argao, Cebu,

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The Maria Cacao legend is a prominent example of the mountain goddess motif in Philippine mythology; other prominent examples being Maria Makiling of Los Baños and Maria Sinukuan of

Mount Arayat Mount Arayat is a potentially active stratovolcano located in the province of Pampanga on the island of Luzon, Philippines, rising to a height of . The volcano has a breached crater on its northwest side with a smaller andesitic dome in the ...

Origin

The original name of Maria Cacao is unknown as it was not recorded before the Spanish changed her name in a bid to convert the natives to Catholicism. It is widely assumed her name is not indigenous as "cacao" is an imported term that came from Latin America when the Spanish arrived. Additionally, the term "Maria" was added by the Spanish to turn her Catholic in a bid to widen Spanish rule in southern Cebu. Like with Makiling and Sinukuan, it is assumed that Maria Cacao's mythology was present prior to Spanish arrival with minor differences.

Legend

The basic form of the Maria Cacao legend is that whenever rains flood the river that comes from Mount Lantoy, or a bridge is broken, this is a sign that Maria Cacao and her husband Mangao have either traveled down the river in their golden ship so that they can export their crops or traveled up the river on their way back.Argao: A Portrait of a Town
She is supposed to live inside a cave in the mountain and the cacao plants outside it are supposed to be her plantation.Maria Cacao: Ang Diwata ng Cebu (Maria Cacao: The Fairy of Cebu) Rene O. Villanueva

Contemporary variants of the Maria Cacao legend

One contemporary evolution of the legend is its merger with another common Filipino mythological motif – that of soul-harvesting boats. The new stories suggest that borrowers who fail to pay their loans to the goddess would soon find themselves facing dire consequences, as Maria Cacao's boat comes to take their souls to the next world.Michael Tan. Maria Cacao. 15 April 2016. http://opinion.inquirer.net/94297/maria-cacao accessed 15 April 2016 A very specific variant of this new element of the myth was reported in Cagayan de Oro in the aftermath of Typhoon Sendong (Tropical Storm Washi) when there were reported sightings of a boat with a woman at the helm traveling along the river and offering to pick up passengers. These rumors were accompanied by a warning not to accept invitations to board the boat because the woman was supposedly Maria Cacao "collecting souls for the next world." In his regular newspaper column, anthropologist Michael Tan noted that this " soul harvester" function wasn't part of the prototypical myth and associated the evolution of the myth with the social need to invent stories as a means of coping with disaster, creating a context for the sense of despair and, to some degree, offering a scapegoat for the situation.

Interpretations and cultural significance

While the story is obviously mythical in nature and a colonial invention, it is cited as evidence of how long the production of ''tableya'' has been going on in the area. ''Tableya'' is Cebuano (from

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

''tablilla'') for round, unsweetened

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

tablets made from

cacao bean The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of '' Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substanc ...

s. It is a crucial ingredient in the Filipino delicacies '' sikwate'' (hot chocolate) and

champorado Champorado or tsampurado Almario, Virgilio, et al. 2010. '' UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino'', 2nd ed. Anvil: Pasig. (from es, champurrado) is a sweet chocolate rice porridge in Philippine cuisine. Ingredients It is traditionally made by boiling ...

References

{{authority control Mountain goddesses Tagalog goddesses Tutelary deities