The terms Muisca religion and mythology refer to the pre-Columbian beliefs of the Muisca indigenous people of the Cordillera Oriental highlands of the Andes in the vicinity of

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. The tradition includes a selection of received myths concerning the origin and organization of the universe. Their belief system may be described as a polytheistic religion containing a very strong element of spirituality based on an epistemology of mysticism.

Muisca religion

Creation of the universe

Bachué The goddess Bachué (in Chibcha language: "the one with the naked breast"), is a mother goddess that according to the Muisca religion is the mother of humanity. She emerged of the waters in the Iguaque Lake with a baby in her arms, who grew to ...

("the Grandmother") is a non-material principle of creation, the will, the thought and the imagination of all the things to come. She is a similar concept to the principle of ''

tao ''Tao'' or ''Dao'' is the natural order of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, East Asian religions, or any other philo ...

'' in the Chinese mythology. The time of ''unquyquie nxie'' ("the first thought") is the time of the cosmic origin, when the thoughts of Bague became actions. This is the time when Bague created the builders of the universe and ordered them to create.

Beginning of the world

The world started with ''Chimi'' ("the pulp"), the first material object in the world. Then, in the inners of ''tomsa'', were incubated the embryos of

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

s, embryos of land and embryos of stone. When ''tomsa'' was full, the seeds of the earth emerged and the remains were thrown away, forming the Milky Way. The elements were distributed to the deities: the heat to Sué – the sun, the cold to Chía – the Moon, and the clouds and smoke to the Earth, but all the things were still seeds and nothing was germinated. Then, ''Mnya'', gold, energy, was united with ''Chimi'', the pulp, and became ''Chímini'', the creative force, which caused the germination of the seeds of all things.

Origin of mankind

According to Muisca legends, mankind was originated in Lake Iguaque, when grandmother goddess Bachué came out from the lake with a boy in her arms. When the boy grew, they populated the earth. They are considered the ancestors of the human race. finally, they disappeared unto the lake in the shape of snakes.

Great flood

Due to transgressions against the divine laws, Chibchacum brought forth a flood that covered the world and nearly destroyed the human race. Then, the protective god Bochica drove away the waters through the Tequendama Falls, and taught humans the basis of civilization, agriculture, religion, the arts, and crafts. When he was about to leave to his heavenly kingdom, Cuchavira (the rainbow) appeared and Bochica announced his second coming, far away in the future, in an event marked by death and disease. These events are similar to the biblical histories of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

and

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...

Deities

The first gods, constructors of the universe, built the first ''cuca'' or ceremonial temple. They were: *

("The one with the naked breasts"): the

mother goddess A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility goddess, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or th ...

who raised from the underworld to give birth to the human race * Bochica ("The father of civilization") also called Nemqueteba, Nemquereteba, Sadigua, Chimizapagua * Chía: the Moon goddess of the Muisca * Chibchacum ("The one who holds the earth"): the universal legislator * Chiminigagua: trinity deity, constituted by ''Chí'', ''Chímini'' and ''Chiminigagua'' * Cuchavira: god of the rainbow * Cuza ("The one who is like the night"): the male principle of creation * Huitaca: rebelling goddess of sexual liberation * Nencatacoa ("The protector of festivities, beer, and the arts") The gods danced a very long dance (''sas quyhynuca''), with the music of the ''fo'' drum, in the first ceremony. This ceremony gave origin to space and time. Then, the gods created the first materials of the universe: ''fiva'' (the air), ''faova'' (the cosmic cloud) and ''ie'' (the smoke). Then, they created the six directions of the material dimension, and in the middle of ''itugue'', the emptiness, they created the centre of power ''tomsa'' (

bellybutton The navel (clinically known as the umbilicus, commonly known as the belly button or tummy button) is a protruding, flat, or hollowed area on the abdomen at the attachment site of the umbilical cord. All placental mammals have a navel, although ...

of the universe). But, still the universe had no consistence, and they waited many ''bxogonoas'' aeons until the ''sas bequia'', the beginning of the world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muisca Mythology Muisca Muisca