The story begins in Iguaque Lagoon which is located
in Boyacá department, in northwest of Villa de Leyva Town, this is a colonial
town located 40 km west of Tunja City, and is one of the finest colonial
villages of Colombia, and it is a Flora and Fauna Sanctuary, where the
landscape is cold, nevertheless; one day the flowers and the plants
became multicolored, its water began to bubble like if it were boiling and from
there came out a beautiful and slim woman with long hair who was holding in her
right arm a five-years-old boy, then they walked over the water and they
arrived to the coast, for this reason this place is a sacred place for the
indigenous people, because the myth says that there the humankind had his
origin.
When the child grew up and became a man, he got married with Bachué and
they had many children, first they began to populate the central savannah,
where currently the towns like Zipaquirá, Nemocón, Cajicá, Chía, Cogua, Cota,
Gaschancipá, Guasca, La Calera, Sopó, Tocancipá, Tabio and Tenjo are located,
then they went over the Chibcha Empire, their sons were instructed by her
mother, she taught them how to sow, how to cultivate, how to make the bohios,
how to knead the clay to make the pots, while her husband was training the
warriors and he teaching them the values of the life. For example a big goal
for them was to be able to cultivate the corn, because with this grain they
could to prepare the arepas, the mazamorra, and fermenting it they got the
Chicha.
Then when The Chibcha Empire was expanded around the Cundi-boyacense
savannah and when the Chibcha people were established in towns like Bogotá,
Ubaté, Chiquinquirá, Tunja and Somagoso. Bachué and her husband considered that
the empire was colonized enough, they decided to come back to Iguaque Lagoon
waters, where they came with a lot of people following them, they swam into the
water and there they disappeared.
Before long they became in a snake which floated in the lagoon to show
to the people who were watching that they never would be alone, that they
always would be supported by them. In that moment is when the lagoon became in
a place for ceremonies, rituals which were realized for the honor of Bachué. They
often celebrate the rituals in the lagoons; they went in pilgrimage to carry
offerings to their gods like the sun and the moon, a good example of that is
the famous legend of El Dorado, in Guatavita in which the leader of the
community the cacique was bathed in gold.
The Chibcha society is completely matriarchal, for this reason we can
highlight that Bachué is mentioned but his son’s name is not mentioned, she is
the goddess and the master, and she is the responsible of giving the
traditions, the values of the culture and all the organization of Chibcha
family, for this reason is important the woman who is called Bachué, the
goddess and the master for the Chibchas.
