As today is Black Saturday, I will talk about my trip to the mystical Mount Banahaw. I climbed the spiritually-charged mountain 3 years ago with friends tagging along with a faith healer. I actually don’t believe in what she’s saying but I just tagged along to reach the top of the enchanted Mount Banahaw.

Mount Banahaw is considered by many as a “holy mountain” and is a popular traditional pilgrimage site among the locals. Many spiritual groups and mystics consider the mountain sacred with over a hundred specific places they identified as “puestos” or holy sites that should be respected and even venerated.

These holy sites are unique natural features such as springs, caves, streams and boulders with erected shrines on or around them. The entire mountain was said to be considered as the New Jerusalem. An estimated 60 cult groups have set up camps within the base of the mountain.

Mount Banahaw is an active 3-peaked volcano located between the provinces of Laguna and Quezon with a height of 2,170 meters. It is a part of the Mounts Banahaw–San Cristobal Protected Landscape covering 10,991 hectares of land. Seven kilometers west of Mount Banahaw is Mount San Cristobal. If Mount Banahaw is the “holy mountain”, Mount San Cristobal is called the “devil’s mountain”.

As part of our hiking, we went inside a small cave which the faith healer said is sacred. I accidentally bumped my head to the rocky ceiling of the cave causing some bruises. Luckily, nothing serious happened to me and we eventually move on to reach the top of the mountain. At the top, there are 3 crosses resembling the Calvary where Jesus Christ has been crucified.