BOCHICA was a major deity of the Muisca (Chibcha) Indians of the highlands around Bogotá, Colombia, at the time of the Spanish conquest, in the sixteenth century. Early Spanish chroniclers report varying mythical dates for Bochica's appearance in Muisca territory. He was called by several names or titles, one of which means "sun," another "disappearing one." Said to be a foreigner from the east (i.e., present-day Venezuela), he appeared as an old man with a waist-length beard, long hair, and a mantle. He preached and taught virtuous behavior, religious ritual, and crafts, particularly spinning, weaving, and cloth painting. Traveling to the west through the Muisca region, then eastward again, he arrived at Sogamoso, on the eastern Muisca border. There, according to different accounts, he died, disappeared, or became the Sun. At the time of the Conquest, there was an important Temple of the Sun at Sogamoso. One...