Chocolate Hills in Bohol is one of the tourist spots enjoyed by both local and foreign tourists. Its beauty amazes and captures the hearts of its visitors. They are small hills scattered throughout the Island. How did such place originate according to myths?
According to a myth, long time ago Bohol Island was a flat land with vast rice fields. There were times when the climate was hot and the ground was dry and hard, as they are in summer time. People nearly broke their backs breaking the hardened ground to plow the fields. On the other hand, in rainy days the field and roads were extremely muddy and slippery to walk around. The myth says, it was only during harvest time that the rice fields come alive with golden palay ready for harvesting which made the people forget the difficulties they had endured the past months.
The myth narrates that one day there came two contesting giants. The people terribly feared for their lives and left their place to settle in another remote area of the island. While the giants were in mortal combat the rains came. As water rushed down the fields, the myth says the two furious giants stumped their feet on the ground and made big, mud balls to hurl to each other. The fight continued for hours—it seemed an eternity. The myth says they didn’t give up on each other. They wanted to prove to all who was tougher and better skilled in fighting.
According to the myth, the people just watched the amazing fist fight until the two monsters were finally exhausted. They fell on the ground and later died. The townsfolk came back to the place and felt relieved that the giants were gone. Being the kind Boholanos that they were, the people buried them.
The myth says, the place where the combat happened was left with hills upon hills of mud balls they hurled at each other. The mud hills were scattered on the island. According to the myth, farmers came back to their fields and began a peaceful farm life again. So, as this myth goes, during summer one sees the brown “chocolate” hills across the Bohol Island due to the dry soil. On rainy days it turns green due to new palay shoots.
This Philippine myth on the Chocolate Hills of Bohol reflects an ancient idea that they were formed due to gigantic activities of extraordinary feats.
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