Pacanchique was a person in the

Folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

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 ...

. He is said to have been the son of the ''

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

'' of

Ramiriquí Ramiriquí is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Márquez Province. Ramiriquí borders the department capital Tunja in the north, in the south Chinavita and Zetaquirá, in the east Rond� ...

; Baganique. During that time, Ramiriquí was part of the '' zacazgo'' of Quemuenchatocha of the northern

Muisca Confederation The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (''zaques'', ''zipas'', ''iraca'', and ''tundama'') in the central Andes, Andean highlands of what is today Colombia before the Spanish conquest of the Americas, Spanis ...

. Pacanchique's fiancé, Azay, is said to have been kidnapped by Quemuenchatocha and Pacanchique did all to get her back, eventually leading 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

es to

Hunza Hunza may refer to: * Hunza, Iran * Hunza Valley, an area in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan ** Hunza (princely state), a former principality ** Hunza District, a recently established district ** Hunza River, a waterway ** Hunza Peak, a mo ...

to beat Quemuenchatocha.Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.19, p.103

Background

In the centuries before the arrival of the

s, the central highlands (

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. (Do not confuse with The Altiplano or the Altiplano Nariñense, both fur ...

) of present-day

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 ...

were ruled by ''

zaque 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 ''Zaque'' was the ruler of the ...

s'' (northern

) and ''

zipa When the Spain, 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 Funza, Muyquytá. The ''Zaque'' was the ...

s'' (southern territories). Other areas were ruled by ''caciques'', one of which was the ruler of Ramiriquí.

Mythography

Pacanchique, who lived in the times of the rule of ''zaque'' Quemuenchatocha, had a beautiful fiancé, Azay. Quemuenchatocha organised pilgrimages to the Temple of the Sun, built by Goranchacha. At the temple

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/prie ...

s were performed; young boys of twelve years old were offered to worship

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 god of the Sun of the Muisca. These rituals took place at the

Cojines del Zaque The ''Cojines del Zaque'' (English: "Cushions of the ''Zaque''") is an archeological site of the Muisca located in the city of Tunja, Boyacá, which in the time of the Muisca Confederation was called Hunza. The ''cojines'' are two round stones u ...

("Cushions of the Zaque"), two round stones of equal rock type, and were accompanied by

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

and

dances Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

with flutes,

ocarina The ocarina (otherwise known as a potato flute) is a wind musical instrument; it is a type of vessel flute. Variations exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the bo ...

s and drums. At one of the celebrations, the delegation of Ramiriquí composed of the ''cacique'' Baganchique, his son Pacanchique and his fiancé Azay, together with other leaders of the area around Ramiriquí, came from

Soracá Soracá is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Central Boyacá Province. Soracá borders the municipalities of Chivatá in the north, Siachoque, Viracacha and Ramiriquí in the east, B ...

to the temple to worship the Sun. The celebrations started at dawn; when Sué was rising in the east. ''Zaque'' Quemuenchatocha kneeled down on the Cojines to start the ritual. The hearts of the young boys were pulled out and sacrificed to the Sun, while Quemuenchatocha drank their blood. The ''zaque'' saw the beautiful Azay and ordered his servants to bring her to his palace (''gran bohío'') that night. The choice for Azay was considered a great honour according to the Muisca traditions and was arranged by the gods and Azay was captured that same night.Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.19, p.104

Pacanchique's artifices

Desperate for the loss of his lover, Pacanchique needed an artifice to get Azay back. After consulting his father, he went to the

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s of Soracá where the Muisca cultivated their medicinal and psychoactive plants. He took two types of plants from here and went to the palace of Quemuenchatocha where he found Azay crying for help. He gave her one of the plants and she immediately fell asleep. When Quemuenchatocha entered and found his conquered beauty dead, he and his shamans tried to save her life, but their attempts were unsuccessful. With a sad funeral march, Quemuenchatocha brought back the body of Azay to Baganique in Ramiriquí. There Pacanchique gave her the other plant he picked from the swamps and Azay came back to life. When Quemuenchatocha found out his conquered lady was not dead, he sent his guecha warriors to Ramiriquí to find her and punish the culprits of the plot. Pacanchique fled the village but Azay and Baganique were captured by the soldiers and taken to Hunza. The protests of former friend Baganchique and his people were in vain; the ''zaque'' ordered Azay and Baganique to be hung at the

gallows A gallows (or less precisely scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sa ...

on "Gallow Hill". Shortly after the conquistadores led by

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera, also spelled as Ximénez and De Quezada, (; 1509 – 16 February 1579) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in northern South America, territories currently known as Colombia. He explored the territory n ...

reached the Muisca territories and found the hanging bodies. Pacanchique wanted revenge on the deaths of his father and fiancé and led the small army of De Quesada to the domains of Quemuenchatocha where he was found sitting in on his throne with

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 ...

emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr., and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991). ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York ...

s and expensive cloths. Pacanchique also showed the Spanish troops the way to the Temple of the Sun in sacred city

Sugamuxi Sugamuxi (died 1539) was the last '' iraca''; ''cacique'' of the sacred City of the Sun Suamox. Sugamuxi, presently called Sogamoso, was an important city in the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the times be ...

. Pacanchique died close to Bonza by the sword of one of the Spanish soldiers.Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.19, p.106 Other

chronicler A chronicle (, 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 local events, ...

s call Azay "Nagantá".Nagantá or Azay, the story of Pacanchique
- accessed 02-05-2016

References

Bibliography

* {{Muisca navbox, Folklore and religion, state=expanded Muisca mythology and religion Pre-Columbian mythology and religion

Background

Mythography

Pacanchique's artifices

See also

References

Bibliography