Bachué, Mother of the Muisca
The Muisca of Colombia said the first woman rose from a mountain lake holding a child, filled the world with people, then returned to the water as a serpent.
What was reported
In the tradition of the Muisca people of the Colombian highlands, a woman named Bachué rose from the waters of Lake Iguaque, high in the mountains, carrying a young boy. When he grew up, they married and had many children, who became the Muisca.
When they were old, Bachué and her husband went back to the lake, said farewell to their people, and turned into serpents, sinking into the water. The Muisca honoured the lake as sacred and made offerings there.
Explanations offered
Bachué is the mother goddess of Muisca belief, recorded by Spanish chroniclers. Lake Iguaque is now part of a protected sanctuary, and the Bachué story inspired a 20th-century Colombian art movement.
- When
- Told before the Spanish conquest
- Where
- Lake Iguaque, Boyacá, Colombia
- Witnesses
- Muisca tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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