Bozic Ie

In the Muisca confederation of the central Colombian Andes, rulers served as both political and religious leaders. The supreme being, Chiminigagua, made light and the Earth, but he was not worshipped directly. Worship went to the moon goddess Chía and her husband Sué, god of the sun. The first Muisca, the chroniclers wrote, came from Lake Iguaque with the mother goddess Bachué, and the teacher Bochica taught them weaving and law.

Priests called ogques led pilgrimages and offerings of gold figures, emeralds and sometimes human lives at holy lakes such as Guatavita and Tota. Ritual use of coca, tobacco and yopo accompanied them.

The Spanish conquest of the 1530s ended the old order, and the last public ceremony was held at Ubaque on 27 December 1563.