Maria Makiling is the most beloved of all the diwata of Philippine mythology: the beautiful guardian-goddess of Mount Makiling, a benevolent protectress of the mountain, its forests, and its creatures, and the subject of one of the most famous and poignant legends of the islands — the immortal diwata who loved mortal men and was betrayed by them. She is the spirit of the sacred mountain made beautiful and tragic.
The Guardian of the Mountain
Maria Makiling (Mariang Makiling) is the [diwata] — the nature-goddess — of Mount Makiling, the dormant volcano in Laguna whose graceful profile is said to resemble a reclining woman, her form the very shape of the mountain. As its guardian, she protects the mountain, its lush forests, its abundant game and fruit, and the people who live upon its slopes, blessing the respectful with health, good harvests, and good fortune, and ensuring that the mountain’s bounty is shared. She is described as a young woman of radiant beauty, eternally youthful, with golden or brown skin and long hair, dwelling in a fine house on the mountain.
The Benevolent Protectress
The legends tell of Maria Makiling’s kindness to the people of the mountain. She would help the poor and the lost, give game to the hunters and fruit to the gatherers, lend her golden cooking implements to villagers (who returned them, finding them turned to true gold), and heal the sick — a generous and loving guardian. But she asked, in return, only respect for the mountain and its creatures, and honesty and goodness from those she helped; she withdrew her favour from the greedy and the wicked.
The Betrayed Love
The most famous and poignant strand of her legend concerns her love for mortal men. In the classic tellings, Maria Makiling fell in love with a mortal — but again and again she was betrayed or abandoned: her beloved married another, or left her, or proved false. Heartbroken by the faithlessness of men, the diwata withdrew from human contact, retreating deep into her mountain and showing herself to mortals no more — and her withdrawal, the legend says, is why the old abundance and the easy blessings of the mountain are gone. The great Filipino hero Jose Rizal famously retold her legend. In Maria Makiling, Filipino myth gave form to the beautiful guardian-spirit of the sacred mountain and the sorrow of betrayed love — the beloved diwata of Mount Makiling, the generous protectress of the wild, who loved mortal men, was betrayed by them, and withdrew at last into her mountain, leaving only her legend and the lovely profile of her sleeping form.