The Legend of L

Before coming to the main subject of this blog, there is something that I’d analyzed. For humanity all over the world, gold is a supernatural substance. It is incorruptible. It symbolizes perfection and immortality, and men have robbed, pillaged and murdered in order to possess it. They picked up the gold and fingered it like monkeys and seemed to be transported by joy as if their hearts were illuminated. They longed and lusted for gold to such an extent that their bodies welled up with greed and their hunger was ravenous. Enlighten yourself with a legend that connects to this metal.

Interesting legends spring up from all over the world. But this one especially tickled my fancy. First let’s go to present-day Columbia. If you’ll kindly step into my time machine and fasten your seatbelts, I’ll transport us back to 1530.

Welcome to the Andes. 130 years ago, this was the land of the Incas. Here is an Incan city called ‘Machu Picchu’ and believe me it’s such a seductive place, it’s been beckoning me ever since I started reading about the Incas. Anyway we’ll discuss about Machu Picchu back in the future. Now back to why we’re in the Andes.

Following the trail of conquistador Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, we’ll come up to a place called Muisca that comprised of two confederations, the Hunza and the Bacata. There was a certain ritual in Muisca that gave rise to the legend El Dorado, meaning “the golden one” rather than a place. As part of the ritual, the chief priest also known as the Zipa of Muisca would be taken to a mysterious secret and sacred lake high in the mountains called the Guatavita which is thought to be a meteor crater.

Before assuming office, the new Zipa will have to make offerings to the Guatavita goddess in the form of gold and other treasures. Before daybreak, on a decorated raft made of rushes, the chief priest and the other priests make way to the middle of the lagoon. There, the Zipa is stripped off and smeared with sticky earth and gold dust thus covering his body with the metal. At his feet was a great heap of gold which he later threw into the lake. Then the chief priest dived into the lake and dissipated the gold from his body. Back on the raft, the congregation moved towards the shore and the Zipa was received as a king with singing and dancing.

Thus the news of the tradition reached far and wide and many were attracted by the fascinating tales of a city of gold that never existed. The Spanish Conquerors widely explored the Guatavita lagoon for the old offerings of the Zipa to the Goddess and the conquistadors had also tried to drain the lake in 1580 but in vain.