The terms Muisca religion and mythology refer to the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

beliefs of the

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

indigenous people of the Cordillera Oriental highlands of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

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 Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The tradition includes a selection of received myths concerning the origin and organization of the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

. Their belief system may be described as a

polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...

religion containing a very strong element of spirituality based on an

epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...

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 The Tao or Dao is the natural way of the universe, primarily as conceived in East Asian philosophy and religion. This seeing of life cannot be grasped as a concept. Rather, it is seen through actual living experience of one's everyday being. T ...

'' in the

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...

. 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, within ''tomsa''(the belly of the universe) the embryos of

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land sur ...

and

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

were incubated. When ''tomsa'' was full, the seeds of the earth emerged; the remains were thrown away, forming the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

. The elements were distributed to the deities: the heat to

Sué Sué, Xué, Sua, Zuhe or Suhé was the deity, god of the Sun in the Muisca religion and mythology, religion of the Muisca. He was married to Moon goddess Chía (goddess), Chía.Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.4, p.33 The Muisca people, Muisca and their Mu ...

– the

sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, the cold to Chía – the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

, and the clouds and smoke to the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. However, all these things were still seeds and nothing was germinated. Then, ''Mnya'',

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

, 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 Chibchacum or Chichebachun is the rain and thunder god in the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in pre-Columbian times. Description In myth, when Chibchacum was angry, he sent heavy rains to the flatlands, cau ...

brought forth a

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

that covered the world and nearly destroyed the human race. Then, the protective god

Bochica Bochica (also alluded to as Nemquetaha, Nemqueteba and Sadigua) is a mythical figure in the religion of the Muisca, who inhabited the ''Altiplano Cundiboyacense'' before the Spanish invasion by conquistadors in the central Andean highlands of pre ...

drove away the waters through the Tequendama Falls, and taught humans the basis of civilization,

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, religion, the arts, and crafts. When he was about to leave to his heavenly kingdom,

Cuchavira Cuchavira or Cuchaviva is the rainbow deity, protector of working women and the sick in the religion of the Muisca. The Muisca and their confederation were one of the advanced civilizations of the Americas and in the fertile intermontane valle ...

(the

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

) appeared and

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: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

and

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...

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 major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, ...

who raised from the underworld to give birth to the human race *

("The father of civilization") also called Nemqueteba, Nemquereteba, Sadigua, Chimizapagua * Chía: the Moon goddess of the Muisca *

("The one who holds the earth"): the universal legislator *

Chiminigagua Chiminigagua, Chiminichagua or Chimichagua was the supreme being, omnipotent god and creator of the world in the religion of the Muisca.Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.1, p.15 The Muisca and their confederation were one of the four advanced civilizatio ...

: trinity deity, constituted by ''Chí'', ''Chímini'' and ''Chiminigagua'' *

: god of the rainbow * Cuza ("The one who is like the night"): the male principle of creation * Huitaca: rebelling goddess of sexual liberation *

Nencatacoa Nencatacoa or Nem-catacoa was the deity, god and protector of the mantle makers, artists and festivities in the Muisca religion and mythology, religion of the Muisca. The Muisca people, Muisca and their Muisca Confederation, confederation were on ...

("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 Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

and

time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

. 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 In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coo ...

, and in the middle of ''itugue'', the emptiness, they created the centre of power ''tomsa'' ( bellybutton of the universe). But, still the universe had no consistence, and they waited many ''bxogonoas''

aeon The word aeon , also spelled eon (in American and Australian English), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timele ...

s until the ''sas bequia'', the beginning of the world.

References

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