Nacuco

The Nacuco religion is followed by the Pijao, a loose federation of chiefdoms in the Andes of what is now Tolima, Colombia. The Pijao held the stars, weather, waters, plants and living things to be sacred parts of one divine whole, which human actions could upset. Rituals kept the balance, with offerings that ranged from chicha to human blood, and with idols of gold, clay or wood painted in many colors.

Their priests, the mohanes, fasted before sacred ceremonies, while the tegua cured the sick. The bodies of caciques and mohanes were mummified so that the people could come to worship at them. The Pijao fought the Spanish for generations before they were overcome.