Story to tell

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.