Women in Muisca society

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The Altiplano Cundiboyacense with valley subdivisions; the living space of the Muisca Altiplano Cundiboyacense (subdivisions).png
The Altiplano Cundiboyacense with valley subdivisions; the living space of the Muisca
The Muisca are famous for their fine goldworking; a tunjo representing mother and son Museo del oro, Bogota, Colombia - Muisca Votive Figure.jpg
The Muisca are famous for their fine goldworking; a tunjo representing mother and son
Southern Muisca ruler Nemequene installed a system of laws (Code of Nemequene) with harsh punishments for adultery, rape, incest and infidelity and arranged for widows to inherit the properties of their deceased husbands Nemequene.jpg
Southern Muisca ruler Nemequene installed a system of laws (Code of Nemequene) with harsh punishments for adultery, rape, incest and infidelity and arranged for widows to inherit the properties of their deceased husbands
The Muisca women prepared and sold the alcoholic beverage chicha Totuma con chicha.png
The Muisca women prepared and sold the alcoholic beverage chicha
The halite of Zipaquira, used for cooking, preservation of meat and fish and as trading product, was extracted from a brine by the Muisca women Vos estis sal terrae.jpg
The halite of Zipaquirá, used for cooking, preservation of meat and fish and as trading product, was extracted from a brine by the Muisca women
Mother goddess Bachue was one of the most important deities of the Muisca 3-D LA BACHUE.JPG
Mother goddess Bachué was one of the most important deities of the Muisca
Sacred Lake Guatavita, where the disloyal wife of the cacique drowned herself after her lover was killed and dismembered Guatavita desde el cielo.jpg
Sacred Lake Guatavita, where the disloyal wife of the cacique drowned herself after her lover was killed and dismembered

This article describes the role of women in the society of the Muisca. The Muisca are the original inhabitants of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense (present-day central Colombian Andes) before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca in the first half of the 16th century. Their society was one of the four great civilizations of the Americas. [1]

Contents

Women were important and considered egalitarian to men in most cases in the Muisca society. While the men were tasked with hunting, warfare, and other activities, the women performed the sowing of the farmfields, the preparation of foods and chicha and the education of children. The participation in the religious rituals was of both genders. The most important deities of the Muisca were female; Chía as goddess of the Moon, Huitaca of sexual liberation and Bachué the mother goddess of the Muisca people.

While the first chroniclers were all male, during the period of conquest and early colonisation Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Pedro Simón, Juan de Castellanos and Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita, 20th and 21st century anthropology has been conducted by many women scientists. Main contributors to the knowledge of women in the Muisca society have been Muisca scholars Ana María Groot, Marianne Cardale de Schrimpff, Sylvia Broadbent, Ana María Gómez Londoño, Martha Herrera Ángel and various others.

Background

Following the largely preceramic Herrera Period, the Muisca people lived in the valleys and higher altitude terrains of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. Estimates of the size of the community vary from 300,000 to two million people at the time of the Spanish conquest as of 1537. The Muisca were predominantly farmers and merchants, with a loose political organisation in their Muisca Confederation. Agriculture was performed on simple terraces on the slopes of the mountains and on the high plains of the Altiplano, especially the Bogotá savanna. Their principal agricultural products cultivated were maize, potatoes, arracacha, tubers, beans, yuca, pumpkins, gourds, tomatoes, peppers, cotton, pineapples, avocadoes, tobacco, quinoa and coca. [2] [3]

Famous is their well-elaborated Muisca art, especially their goldworking. Different from the other three well-known civilisations of the Americas; the Maya, Aztec and Inca, they did not construct grand architecture.

Muisca words for women

The Muisca used various words in their language Muysccubun to refer to women, gui; 'wife' or 'niece', literally 'daughter of the sister of the mother', [4] gyca; 'sister-in-law', literally 'wife of the brother' or 'sister of the husband', [5] pabcha; 'niece', literally 'daughter of the sister of the father', [6] and fucha; 'her', 'female'. [7]

Women in Muisca society

In the pre-Columbian societies, the women formed a central part in the explanation of the world, the structuring of the family and community, the religious life, in the labour of the farmfields, mythology, arts, and in all aspects of the organisation of society. In these communities, the woman was the centre of the birth of the culture. The fertility of the women played a central role in the rich agriculture of the Muisca. [8] Women were raised for the labour of sowing and harvest, preparation of food, textile work, ceramics and in the sacred ceremonies. [8]

The women in the Muisca civilisation, especially under the Code of Nemequene, had special rights over their husbands, mainly the caciques . [9] The Code consisted of a system of penalties of horrific practice, but was focused on the stability of the society, especially in cases of adultery, cheating, incest and rape. [10] It was the Muisca men forbidden to leave their wives and if she died doing labour the spouse was ordered to pay off her family. [9] [11] Infidelity of the women was punished by forcing her to have sex with the ten ugliest men of the tribe. [10] They also were condemned to fasting. [12]

The wives of the leaders of the community wore skirts until their ankles, while common women had skirts up to their knees. [13] Maids, or sometimes called concubines, were called tegui. [14]

The majority of the pre-Columbian cultures which had female leaders and egalitarian conditions between man and woman, went through a process of transformation towards a male leadership through the defense of their territories. [8]

A census held in 1780 in the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, Bogotá, resulted in a 63.5% of women in the city. The women from indigenous origin moved to the capital for two reasons; to work in the households of the Spanish colonisers and to look for husbands, as the mestizo status provided them with more security. [15]

Matrilineal heritage of rule

The Muisca woman were very important in the organisation of the family and for the Muisca rulers. The children pertained to the mother and in case of heritage were assigned to the mother, not the father. The new zipa and zaque was traditionally chosen from the eldest sons of the elder sister of the previous ruler and the woman had the liberty to live together for a while to make sure the relation worked and they were fertile. [10] After marriage total fidelity was guaranteed. [2] [16]

Exceptions to the tradition of the matrilineal heritage of rule were present in the later stages of the Muisca civilisation. Around the time of the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, the rule of Tisquesusa was followed by his brother, Sagipa. [17]

Women's roles in the Muisca society

The Muisca women were considered important in transferring their fertility to the farmlands, which meant they were the ones to sow the fields, [18] while the men went hunting, fishing and went to war with neighbouring groups, such as the Panche. [19] The women also prepared and sold the alcoholic beverage of the Muisca, chicha. [8] [20] To prepare the chicha and aid in the fermentation process, the women chewed on the maize kernels. [21] During rituals, which could last for fifteen days, the women sang. [2] The Muisca laws protected the women from physical attacks and made sure the pregnant women received a special treatment. This treatment continued to the first years of motherhood and in the case of widowhood. [8] The food of the Muisca, eaten while sitting on the ground of their bohíos, was prepared uniquely by the Muisca women. [22]

Women also played an important role in the extraction of salt. [23] The Muisca, known as "The Salt People" due to their salt mines in Zipaquirá, Nemocón and Tausa, extracted salt by evaporating brines in large pots. [24] They used the salt in their cuisine, for the preparation of dried fish and meat and as product in their economy. [25]

Polygamy, polyamory and sexual rites

The Muisca, as many other pre-Columbian cultures, practiced polygamy. The narrations of the amount of wives vary, but it was common for the higher caste caciques to have twenty ( gueta ) wives. Some sources even account for one hundred spouses. [10] Less reliable sources, such as Vicente Restrepo in the 19th century, call for a number of up to 300 wives. [26] The many wives allowed the most prominent of the Muisca rulers to elaborate larger farmlands than lower castes. [13] When the principal wife of the cacique, zaque or zipa died, the male ruler was obliged to abstain from sexual relations for five years. [10]

Virginity was not highly regarded in the Muisca society; women who were virgins were considered the ugliest. An exception were the virgins captured from neighbouring indigenous groups (Panche, Muzo, Lache, Guayupe, Guane, Chitarero), who were used in ceremonies as sacrifices. [10]

In general, the practices of polygamy, the period of cohabitation before marriage, the unimportance of virginity and the resulting sexual promiscuity were very different in pre-Columbian Colombia from the later Spanish colonial norms and laws. [10] [27]

Religion and mythology

In the Muisca religion, as with other pre-Columbian religions in the Americas, [16] various deities were female and they were among the most important. The inhabitation of the Earth is explained by the mother goddess Bachué, who is said to have been born in Lake Iguaque in current Boyacá. [16] One of the major deities in the religion of the Muisca was Chía, the goddess of the Moon. She was worshipped throughout the Muisca Confederation, but especially in her Moon Temple in the city named after her; Chía, Cundinamarca. Chía was symbolic for the placental life, the games and the dances. [8] The rituals at the temples of the Muisca were mixed; men and women together. [28]

The Moon Temple not only formed a place of worship, also education to the new caciques and Muisca rulers was given near the temple (Seminario de la Cuca). [29] [30] [31]

Huitaca was the rebelling goddess of arts, dance and music, [32] [33] witchcraft and sexual liberation of the Muisca. [34] She is sometimes equated with Chía, but mostly considered a separate deity. In the Muisca religion, it was Huitaca who caused the Funza River to overflow, forcing the Muisca to inhabit higher terrains on the Bogotá savanna. [17]

Cuchavira, the god of the rainbow, guarded the women during their work on the farmfields, in their Chibcha language called tá, as is visible in many toponyms of the area in modern times; Bogotá, Chivatá, Cucaita, Guayatá, Machetá and Tota, among many others. [2] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41]

According to chronicler Bernardo de Sahagún, new-born girls were sometimes offered to the Muisca gods. This practice was accepted by the Muisca people as they viewed their gods as part of their community and ensured fertility of their lands. [42]

Lake Guatavita

A story in the Muisca mythology about the wife of the cacique of Guatavita tells about her disloyalty to her husband. As punishment for this act, the people tortured her lover, a guecha warrior, by cutting off his private parts and eating them in a ceremonial ritual. [43] The wife of the cacique jumped into the lake with her son and drowned. The cacique mourning the deaths, ordered to retrieve the bodies from the lake. [44]

This history formed the basis for the sacred Lake Guatavita and the later legend of El Dorado , as narrated by early Spanish chronicler Pedro Simón. [44]

Diosa Guatavita.jpg
Lake Guatavita

Famous Muisca women

Notable female Muisca scientists

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Muisca are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan language family, also called Muysca and Mosca. They were encountered by conquistadors dispatched by the Spanish Empire in 1537 at the time of the conquest. Subgroupings of the Muisca were mostly identified by their allegiances to three great rulers: the hoa, centered in Hunza, ruling a territory roughly covering modern southern and northeastern Boyacá and southern Santander; the psihipqua, centered in Muyquytá and encompassing most of modern Cundinamarca, the western Llanos; and the iraca, religious ruler of Suamox and modern northeastern Boyacá and southwestern Santander.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chibcha language</span> Extinct language of Colombia, spoken by the Muisca

Chibcha, Mosca, Muisca, Muysca (*/ˈmɨska/), or Muysca de Bogotá, was a language spoken by the Muisca people of the Muisca Confederation, one of the many indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Muisca inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense of what today is the country of Colombia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altiplano Cundiboyacense</span> Plateau in the Columbian Andes

The Altiplano Cundiboyacense is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Altiplano Cundiboyacense comprises three distinctive flat regions; the Bogotá savanna, the valleys of Ubaté and Chiquinquirá, and the valleys of Duitama and Sogamoso. The average altitude of the altiplano is about 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) above sea level but ranges from roughly 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guatavita</span> Municipality and town in Cundinamarca, Colombia

Guatavita is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Guavio Province of the department of Cundinamarca. Guatavita is located 75 km northeast of the capital Bogotá. It borders Sesquilé and Machetá in the north, Gachetá and Junín in the east, Guasca in the south and in the west are Tocancipá and Gachancipá.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nemocón</span> Place in Cundinamarca, Colombia

Nemocón is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Central Savanna Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. Nemocón, famous for its salt mine, was an important village in the Muisca Confederation, the country in the central Colombian Andes before the arrival of the Spanish. The municipality is situated in the northern part of the Bogotá savanna, part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense with its urban centre at an altitude of 2,585 metres (8,481 ft) and 65 kilometres (40 mi) from the capital Bogotá. Nemocón is the northeasternmost municipality of the Metropolitan Area of Bogotá and the Bogotá River originates close to Nemocón. The median temperature of Nemocón is 12.8 °C. The municipality borders Tausa in the north, Suesca and Gachancipá in the east, Tocancipá and Zipaquirá in the south and in the west the rivers Checua and Neusa and the municipality of Cogua.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bogotá savanna</span> Motane savanna in Altiplano Cundiboyacense

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saguamanchica</span> Zipa of Bacatá

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish conquest of the Muisca</span> Part of the Spanish conquest of Colombia

The Spanish conquest of the Muisca took place from 1537 to 1540. The Muisca were the inhabitants of the central Andean highlands of Colombia before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. They were organised in a loose confederation of different rulers; the psihipqua of Muyquytá, with his headquarters in Funza, the hoa of Hunza, the iraca of the sacred City of the Sun Sugamuxi, the Tundama of Tundama, and several other independent caciques. The most important rulers at the time of the conquest were psihipqua Tisquesusa, hoa Eucaneme, iraca Sugamuxi and Tundama in the northernmost portion of their territories. The Muisca were organised in small communities of circular enclosures, with a central square where the bohío of the cacique was located. They were called "Salt People" because of their extraction of salt in various locations throughout their territories, mainly in Zipaquirá, Nemocón, and Tausa. For the main part self-sufficient in their well-organised economy, the Muisca traded with the European conquistadors valuable products as gold, tumbaga, and emeralds with their neighbouring indigenous groups. In the Tenza Valley, to the east of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense where the majority of the Muisca lived, they extracted emeralds in Chivor and Somondoco. The economy of the Muisca was rooted in their agriculture with main products maize, yuca, potatoes, and various other cultivations elaborated on elevated fields. Agriculture had started around 3000 BCE on the Altiplano, following the preceramic Herrera Period and a long epoch of hunter-gatherers since the late Pleistocene. The earliest archaeological evidence of inhabitation in Colombia, and one of the oldest in South America, has been found in El Abra, dating to around 12,500 years BP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muisca warfare</span>

This article describes the warfare of the Muisca. The Muisca inhabited the Tenza and Ubaque valleys and the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the high plateau of the Colombian Eastern Ranges of the Andes in the time before the Spanish conquest. Their society was mainly egalitarian with little difference between the elite class (caciques) and the general people. The Muisca economy was based on agriculture and trading raw materials like cotton, coca, feathers, sea snails and gold with their neighbours. Called "Salt People", they extracted salt from brines in Zipaquirá, Nemocón and Tausa to use for their cuisine and as trading material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muisca art</span> Pre-Columbian art

This article describes the art produced by the Muisca. The Muisca established one of the four grand civilisations of the pre-Columbian Americas on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in present-day central Colombia. Their various forms of art have been described in detail and include pottery, textiles, body art, hieroglyphs and rock art. While their architecture was modest compared to the Inca, Aztec and Maya civilisations, the Muisca are best known for their skilled goldworking. The Museo del Oro in the Colombian capital Bogotá houses the biggest collection of golden objects in the world, from various Colombian cultures including the Muisca.

The Cabildo Mayor del Pueblo Muisca is an organisation of indigenous people, in particular the Muisca. It was established in September 2002 in Bosa, Bogotá, Colombia. The organisation, member of National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), focuses on defending the rights of the descendants of the Muisca, and the development of cultural and historical heritage, territory and health and the linguistics of the indigenous language, Muysccubun.

References

  1. ↑ Ocampo López, 2007, p.26
  2. 1 2 3 4 (in Spanish) Los Chibchas: Muiscas
  3. ↑ Broadbent, 1968, p.140
  4. ↑ (in Spanish) gui - Muisccubun Dictionary
  5. ↑ (in Spanish) gyca - Muisccubun Dictionary
  6. ↑ (in Spanish) pabcha - Muisccubun Dictionary
  7. ↑ (in Spanish) fucha - Muisccubun Dictionary
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 (in Spanish) La mujer y su participación en la construcción de la sociedad colombiana
  9. 1 2 (in Spanish) La Mujer en la civilización Chibcha
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (in Spanish) El promiscuo sexo de los muiscas - El Tiempo
  11. ↑ (in Spanish) Biography Nemequene and Nemequene Code - Pueblos Originarios
  12. ↑ Daza, 2013, p.31
  13. 1 2 Gómez Londoño, 2005, p.300
  14. ↑ (in Spanish) tegui - Muysccubun Dictionary
  15. ↑ Daza, 2013, p.75
  16. 1 2 3 Carbonell, 1993, p.25
  17. 1 2 (in Spanish) Los señores Muisca - Banco de la República
  18. ↑ Daza, 2013, p.24
  19. ↑ Carbonell, 1993, p.24
  20. ↑ Restrepo Manrique, 2009, p.153
  21. ↑ Restrepo Manrique, 2009, p.30; p.244; p.245
  22. ↑ Restrepo Manrique, 2009, p.43
  23. ↑ Groot, 2014
  24. ↑ Daza, 2013, p.23
  25. ↑ Daza, 2013, p.26
  26. ↑ (in Spanish) Los Chibchas antes de la conquista española - Banco de la República
  27. ↑ Solano Suárez, 2011, p.167
  28. ↑ Casilimas & López, 1987, p.128
  29. ↑ (in Spanish) Templo de la Luna in Chía - Pueblos Originarios
  30. ↑ (in Spanish) Education at the Moon Temple, Chía
  31. ↑ (in Spanish) Chía, Ciudad de la Luna - El Tiempo
  32. ↑ Ocampo López, 2007, Ch.V, p.221
  33. ↑ (in Spanish) 2012 - Huitaca, la diosa muisca en el Palacio Liévano - El Tiempo
  34. ↑ (in Spanish) 2015 - Huitaca y el arquetipo de la diosa rebelde desde la antiguedad hasta nuestros días
  35. ↑ (in Spanish) ta - Muysccubun Dictionary
  36. ↑ (in Spanish) Etymology Bacatá - Banco de la República
  37. ↑ (in Spanish) Official website Chivatá
  38. ↑ (in Spanish) Official website Cucaita
  39. ↑ (in Spanish) Official website Guayatá
  40. ↑ Espejo Olaya, 1999, p.1120
  41. ↑ (in Spanish) Etymology Municipalities Boyacá - Excelsio.net
  42. ↑ Torregroza & Ochoa, 2010, p.523
  43. ↑ Carbonell, 1993, p.26
  44. 1 2 Carbonell, 1993, p.27

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