Cave of Doña Jerónima (Pasig)

 place with historical importance, cave / cave(s)

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A cave supposedly the former abode of a woman spurned. Two accounts are given below of the origin of this cave, the first quoting Rizal from fyumul.blogspot.com/2011/09/gone-is-my-river.html:

In the middle of Chapter 3 of his "El Filibusterismo", José Rizal wrote of legends that surround the Pasig. "Malapad na Bato" (believed to be found in the Makati area), Doña Jerónima's Cave (found somewhere in Barangay Pineda , Pasig) and the "Buwayang Bato" (said to be located also in Pineda or in Guadalupe, Makati), the crocodile that turned to stone, leaves us with more questions and mystery.

The Legend of Doña Jerónima as Rizal wrote:

"Once upon a time there was a student who gave his word to marry a maiden of his village who, it seems, he later failed to remember. She, faithful, waited for him for years and years, wasted her youth, became a spinster. One day, she heard that her old love had become Archbishop of Manila. She disguised herself as a man, came by the Cape and presented herself to His Most Illustrious Person, demanding the fulfillment of his promise.

"What she asked for was impossible, and the Archbishop had a cave built, which you have seen, draped and decorated at the entrance with tangled vines. There she lived and died and there was buried, and tradition relates that Doña Jerónima was so fat that to enter she had to go sideways. Her fame as a charmer came from her custom of throwing into the river all the silver plates on which she served lavish banquets to which came many a gentleman. A net was stretched under water to catch the pieces which were thus washed.

"It is not more than twenty years since the river passed close by, almost kissing the mouth of the cave, but little by little it receded from it, as its memory fades among the Indios."

Another, longer account of the legend can be found here by Gémino Abad in "Upon Our Own Ground: 1965 to 1972" (2008, UP Press): books.google.com.ph/books?id=Ex-j7J5DXf4C&pg=PA29&lpg=P...ña+jeronima%27s+cave&source=bl&ots=yHna0VkCQc&sig=LgP2vzAHP_KuJvnvoT21hMNiVZE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=34XeUpafNsnyiAe19oFY&sqi=2&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=doña%20jeronima's%20cave&f=false