{"id":213036,"date":"2022-05-01T16:37:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-01T14:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.visit-latin-america.com\/?p=213036"},"modified":"2024-12-05T22:37:05","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T20:37:05","slug":"bachue-the-goddess-of-fertility-mythology-of-the-muisca-indigenous-civilization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/bachue-the-goddess-of-fertility-mythology-of-the-muisca-indigenous-civilization\/","title":{"rendered":"Bachu\u00e9, The Goddess of Fertility: Mythology of the Muisca Indigenous Civilization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Text and photos by Carmen Helena Trujillo<\/a> – This article was originally published at \u00a0www.elcafelatino.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Chibcha<\/strong> linguistic family of Colombia inhabited the territories of the present-day departments of Santander, Boyac\u00e1 and Cundinamarca in the highlands of the Andes at altitudes of 2,000 metres and above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The indigenous Muisca<\/strong> are part of this family that lived around the present-day Colombian capital, called Bacat\u00e1<\/strong> by them. From 600 A.D. onwards, the Cordillera Oriental was gradually occupied by various peoples of this family.<\/p>\n\n\n

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According to the chronicles of the first Spanish settlers, they found a population that lived from agriculture; from products such as potatoes and corn and from the extraction of rock salt and emeralds, products that they exchanged with other tribes for other goods. This exchange was called ‘trueque<\/strong>‘ [1].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several present-day populations still preserve the original names of the Muisca<\/strong> nation, such as R\u00e1quira (ra: ceramics – quira: earth) where the ancestral techniques of Muisca<\/strong> ceramics are preserved, Zipaquir\u00e1 (Zipa: rule.quira: earth). Or, also, the word Turmequ\u00e9<\/strong> (which means vigorous leader).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turmequ\u00e9<\/strong> was a sports game that the natives played with golden discs called “Zepguagoscua<\/strong>“. Nowadays it is called “tejo” [2], and is played with iron discs that barely fit in the hand. The fields are 18 metres long and the ‘tejos’ must be thrown towards a sandy field in which small pieces of gunpowder are hidden and must explode to win points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, there are other populations that have diversified its meaning over time, such as the ancient Sugamuxi<\/strong> (or Temple of the Sun) where the Archaeological Museum<\/a> is located today, and the Suamox<\/strong> or Bacat\u00e1<\/strong> (plantation territory) in present-day Bogot\u00e1 (capital of Colombia).<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Europeans arrived in the territories of the Chibcha<\/strong> linguistic family, especially in search of the Muisca civilisation that made gold offerings to the lagoons (the Dorado ceremonies [3]). During the period of conquest, the Spanish D\u00edaz Venero de Leyva founded the Villa de Leyva, in a territory 160 kilometres from Bogot\u00e1, which was ideal as a resting place for the viceroys of that time. In pre-Columbian times, the Muiscas honoured Lake Iguaque, because according to their mythology, the origin of mankind began in this place. The territory of Villa de Leyva preserves a special mysticism, although it is only a few kilometres from the lake. From the main square, which is the largest in Colombia (14,000 m\u00b2), you can see the Andean mountains where the p\u00e1ramo is located, so this is where the sacred lake of Iguaque is located.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The myth tells that a woman named Bachu\u00e9<\/strong> appeared with a child in her arms, the child grew up and then they got married and had many children, and in this way they populated the earth. They taught their children agriculture and the worship of the gods. After many years, they said goodbye to the people who unfortunately saw them leave, turning into snakes, and retreating to the lake. Thus, for populating the land, Bashue became the goddess of fertility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

This place continues to be sacred for the present-day populations, especially for the indigenous Muisca<\/strong> who still survive there and talk to us about water culture<\/a>. In the words of Jos\u00e9 Manuel Socha, the Muisca<\/strong> spiritual leader of the current community in the Chia territory [4]:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Water is life, we are water, we all come from a lake, as it happened in our vision of the world, Mamie Bachu\u00e9<\/strong> came out of the lake to give birth to humanity and we all come from a lake without exception because when we are in our mother’s womb we are in a lake, we are the children of Zue<\/strong>[5], we are part of a great thought, a great universe, a great being. It is important that we see this, we have to start by taking care of our own water, our own lake, that we have in us, in every human being, animal, plant or stone, it is water, and water is our mother, it is pure.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To get there from Bogot\u00e1, you can pass through the beautiful and historic town of Villa de Leyva, which is 2,100 metres above sea level, and continue to the Iguaque Wildlife Sanctuary National Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h6>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
[1] In the Chibcha language, currently ‘barter’.<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
[2] The ‘shuffleboard game<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
[3] The Europeans looked for this place as “El Dorado”, a mythical place where everything is made of gold.<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
[4] Moon in Chibcha language.<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
[5] A word from the Muisca language that translates into Spanish as ‘sun’.<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
 <\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Bibliography<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Puch Mar\u00eda de la Luz, Giraldo (1986). As\u00ed \u00e9ramos los Muiscas. Original edition: Bogot\u00e1, Banco de la Rep\u00fablica; Fundaci\u00f3n de Investigaciones.<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Socha, Jos\u00e9 Manuel (2021). The Muiscas and the Culture of Water: Reflections from the Sanctuary of Fauna and Flora of Iguaque. <\/em>From: <\/em>https:\/\/fb.watch\/7JkZV5GccN\/<\/em><\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Lake Muisca and El Dorado. From: <\/em>https:\/\/www.banrepcultural.org\/coleccion-arqueologica\/balsa-muisca<\/em><\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn about Bachu\u00e9, the goddess of fertility in Muisca mythology. A legendary figure symbolizing the beliefs and traditions of this indigenous civilization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8198,1],"tags":[18157,18169,18159,18162,9909,13727,7939,18158,18155,18172,18165,18161,18177,18175,18163,18170,18164,18154,18156,18167,18173,18171,18174,18160,18168,18176,18178,18166],"class_list":["post-213036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-eng","category-non-classifiee","tag-ancestral-beliefs","tag-ancestral-spirituality","tag-bachue-2","tag-colombian-myths","tag-colombian-traditions","tag-cultural-exploration","tag-cultural-heritage","tag-fertility-goddess","tag-indigenous-civilization","tag-indigenous-folklore","tag-indigenous-history","tag-indigenous-spirituality","tag-indigenous-treasures","tag-muisca-deities","tag-muisca-heritage","tag-muisca-legacy","tag-muisca-legends","tag-muisca-mythology","tag-muisca-traditions","tag-mythological-figure","tag-mythology-discovery","tag-pre-columbian-america","tag-pre-columbian-civilization","tag-pre-columbian-culture","tag-pre-columbian-goddesses","tag-spiritual-beliefs","tag-spiritual-heritage","tag-symbolic-fertility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213036"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231046,"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213036\/revisions\/231046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}