This is a picture of the original statue of Our Lady of Caysasay, which can be found in the town of Caysasay (which means kingfisher) in Taal, Batangas.

I originally went there as part of the Carnation Family Food Trip ’09 (in cooperation with Appetite magazine), but I got hooked on the historical aspects of the town as well (The food part is a different post altogether).

Legend has it that the image was found by Juan Maningcad, a Chinese fisherman, while fishing in the nearby Pansipit river. He brought the statue to the town priest, who later gave it to a townswoman for safekeeping. They say that the statue liked to disappear from wherever it was kept, only to reappear at a certain well, now called the Sta. Lucia Well, whose water is said to have healing powers.

When we entered the church, lots of people were gathered at the main entrance, where a puddle of water had formed. Because of this, people entering the church had to cross wooden planks set above the water for that purpose. A townsperson told us that the puddle had appeared a few days after typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) hit the province. Since it was a hot day and the townspeople claimed that there is no source of water underneath the foundation (or faulty pipes), many considered it a miracle. Our guide said that people have been coming from all over Batangas and the nearby provinces just to see it and collect some of the “miraculous” water. I don’t know if they ever found out where the water came from.