Chocolate Hills Legends

Boholanos are fond of legends and it is not surprising that a tale or two has been crafted about the hills. This has nothing to do with geology and science, whatsoever.

Legend 1

The legend relates of two quarrelling giants who threw mud, rocks, boulders and sand to each other. Nobody knows what the reason behind their feud was only that it lasted for a few days leaving them weak and exhausted in the end. Without their knowing it, some of the boulders, stones, sand and mud stuck to each other and formed mounds. Thousands of years of wind and rain erosion eventually formed the hills into what it is now.

Legend 2 is much more romantic. It relates of Arogo, an extremely powerful and youthful giant falling in love with a mortal maiden named Aloya. They lived together and were happy for a time until Aloya got sick and died causing much pain and misery to Arogo. In his sorrow, he cried and cried, and every time his tears fell on the ground it dries up and form into mounds, thus the Chocolate Hills.

This legend is my favorite. It was related by my mother who is a Boholana and who is fond of webbing stories to us when we were small. It relates that the flatland of Carmen, extending outwards, was the playground of giant children. That day the children where pretending that they were baking cakes, molding and forming them from mud and sand in a half shell of a giant coconut and letting them “bake” under the heat of the sun. It was a contest. The one who makes the most wins. After a time, the children were called home. When they came back to play, they found their cakes “cooked” and were very happy and did not have the heart to destroy their masterpieces and so left them as is.

This legend was written by my aunt, Mrs. Frances “Mimi” Bacareza of Maribojoc, Bohol. The story was initially laid in print in a magazine, titled “God’s Sunbeam” of the Phil. Sunbeam Children’s Ministries, Inc. I am given full authority by Tia Mimi to reprint this story in the Bohol-Philippines.com website. Hope you will enjoy this interesting tale!

Chocolate Hills

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