Chaquén was the

god In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

s and

fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...

in the religion of the Muisca. The

Muisca The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...

and their

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

were one of the four advanced civilizations of the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

and as they were warriors, sports was very important to train the fighters for wars, mainly fought between the ''

zipa When the Spanish arrived in the central Colombian highlands, the region was organized into the Muisca Confederation, which had two rulers; the ''zipa'' was the ruler of the southern part and based in Muyquytá. The ''hoa'' was the ruler of the ...

zgo'' and the '' zacazgo'' but also against other

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

as the

Panches The Panche or Tolima is an indigenous group of people in what is now Colombia. Their language is unclassified – and possibly unclassifiable – but may have been Cariban. They inhabited the southwestern parts of the department of Cundinamarca ...

, Muzos and others. When the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

arrived in the highlands of central Colombia, the

Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Alt ...

, they encountered resistance of the

guecha warrior Guecha warriors (Spanish: ''güechas'' or ''gueches'') were warriors of the Muisca Confederation in the Tenza Valley, Ubaque valley and Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the pre-Colombian era. The Guecha warrior was chosen for his merit in attitude and ...

s, trained by Chaquén.

Description

Chaquén flew over the boundaries of the sowing fields of the rich agriculture of the Muisca. During the contests and festivities of the Muisca people Chaquén manifestated himself. 17th century

chronicler A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

Pedro Simón said about Chaquén: "The Muisca organized races on their holidays where the

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

s of the '' caciques'' would compete in many aspects; dances with new inventions and a lot of feathers, flutes, horns and drums. The people would have interludes with delights, wearing uniforms and many of them wore animal skins with

diadem A diadem is a type of crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of royalty. Overview The word derives from the Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", from διαδέω ''diadéō'', " ...

s of fine gold. As prizes for the winners there were richly decorated mantles and the festivities were celebrated with a lot of '' chicha''".Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.10, p.64 During the first months of the

year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...

, the people celebrated their agricultural festivities around the edges of their crop fields honouring Chaquén to ensure a good harvest. With playing flutes and horns the men would dance holding hands with the women and sang both happy and sad songs. They held the earthenware bowls filled with ''chicha'' in their hands. The festivities not only served to get good harvest, as well to gain partners; men and women, all drunk would find each other at these celebrations and the ''caciques'' and other nobles gained their women here". The honouring of Chaquén was a celebration of

, not only for the agriculture, but also for the people. Sexual rites were encompassed with many feathers and costumes also used in the warfare of the Muisca.

Chaquén punishing Tintoa and Sunuba

Chaquén not only was the god of sports and fertility, he also made sure those who committed

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

were punished, like happened to Tintoa and Sunuba. The young and brave

Tintoa fell in love with the beautiful Sunuba, principal wife – the Muisca had extensive

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...

– of a prince. When the husband of Sunuba went to war, he named his wife as guardian. When the warrior prince returned from battle and found out about his wife cheating with Tintoa, he decided to punish them both. The lovers ran away and escaped the law. When Chaquén found out where they were located, he punished them converting them into vegetables; the beautiful Sunuba into a type of cane or reed, condemned to live close to the waters of the various swamps of the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is situated in the Eastern Ran ...

and Tintoa into a dry weed, growing only in arid areas, separating the two forever.

Heritage of Chaquén

In Boyacá and other parts of central Colombia the game of

tejo Tejo may refer to: *Tagus (Portuguese: ''Tejo''), a river on the Iberian Peninsula. * Tejo (sport), a sport and national pastime of Colombia. * Tejo (Argentina), a sport and national pastime of Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argen ...

survived from Muisca times. The goal of tejo is to throw clay dishes and hit pieces of small explosive, gaining points. This game has been played before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and is still very popular in the villages of the

. Honouring Chaquén a theme park in

Sumapaz Sumapaz is the 20th locality of Bogotá, capital of Colombia. It is the largest of Bogotá's 20 localities, starting in the north at the edge of the urban frontier with Usme and stretching to the south at the border of Cundinamarca with the depa ...

, Bogotá has been named after him.Parque Temático Chaquén Sumapaz

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaquen Muisca gods Pre-Columbian mythology and religion Agricultural gods Fertility gods Love and lust gods Muysccubun Sports deities

Description

Chaquén punishing Tintoa and Sunuba

Heritage of Chaquén

See also

References

Bibliography