Apr 11, 2013

Mount Banahaw

Mount Banahaw is an active volcano on Luzon Island in the Republic of the Philippines. The three-peaked volcano complex is located between the provinces of Laguna and Quezon and is the tallest mountain in the CALABARZON region dominating the landscape for miles around. The mountain is considered by many as a "Holy mountain" and is popular among pilgrims along with mountain climbers. Banahaw is a ntional park and a protected area in the Philippines since 1941, and is now called Mts. Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Landscape


Banahaw is a traditional pilgrimage site for locals, believed by many as a "Holy mountain", a spiritually-charged location. The mountain and its environs are considered sacred by local residents; the water from its sacred springs are deemed "holy water" for allegedly having beneficial qualities, issuing forth from locations called "puestos" or "holy sites". These sites are unique natural features composed not only of springs, but also caves, streams and boulders; with names with biblical allusions, and shrines erected in, on or around them. These locations were allegedly revealed to a man named Agripino Lontoc by the "Santas Voces" or the "Holy Voices", which also gave the names to these places way back during the Spanish Colonial Era. Another one of this mountain is the adjacent Mount Banahaw de Lucban.