Maria Cacao is the diwata

Diwata

In Philippine mythology, a Diwata , also known as Encantada, is a mythological figure similar to fairies or nymphs. They are nature spirits and live one with mother earth...

(fairy

Fairy

A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...

) or mountain goddess associated with Mount Lantoy

Mount Lantoy

Mount Lantoy is a 593-meter mountain located 10 kilometers inland from the municipality of Argao, Cebu in the Philippines.-Watershed forest reserve:...

 in Argao, Cebu

Argao, Cebu

Argao is a 1st class municipality in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 62,226 people.-Location:...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, similar to Maria Makiling

Maria Makiling

Maria Makiling, sometimes spelled Mariang Makiling, in Philippine Mythology, is a diwata or lambana associated with Mount Makiling in Laguna, Philippines...

 of Los Baños

Los Banos

Los Banos could refer to:*Los Banos, California, United States*Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines...

 and Maria Sinukuan

Maria Sinukuan

Maria Sinukuan is the diwata or mountain goddess associated with Mount Arayat in Pampanga, Philippines, similar to Maria Makiling of Los Baños and Maria Cacao of Cebu.-Basic legend:...

 of Mount Arayat

Mount Arayat

Mount Arayat is an extinct stratovolcano on Luzon Island, Philippines, rising to a height of There is no recorded eruption of the volcano, and its last activity probably dates to the Holocene era.The volcano is located in a flat agricultural region at...

.

The basic form of the 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. She is supposed to live inside a cave in the mountain and the Cacao plants outside it are supposed to be her plantation. While the story is obviously mythical in nature, it is cited as evidence of how long the production of tableya, has been going on in the area. Tableya is Cebuano

Cebuano language

Cebuano, referred to by most of its speakers as Bisaya , is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 20 million people mostly in the Central Visayas. It is the most widely spoken of the languages within the so-named Bisayan subgroup and is closely related to other Filipino...

 for round, unsweetened chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

 cakes made from cacao beans. It is a crucial ingredient in the Filipino delicacies sikwate (chocolate) and champorado

Champorado

For the Mexican drink, see ChampurradoTsampurado is a sweet chocolate rice porridge in Philippine cuisine. It is traditionally made by boiling sticky rice with cocoa powder, giving it a distinctly brown color and usually with milk and sugar to make it taste sweeter. However, dry tsampurado mixes...

.