Muisca religion and mythology

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, Colombia. 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. Bachué ("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 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. 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 stars, land and stone were incubated. When tomsa was full, the seeds of the earth emerged; 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. However, all these 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. 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. Due to transgressions against the divine laws, Chibchacum brought forth a flood that covered the world and nearly destroyed the human race.