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Bochica, a MythSource painting
South American

Bochica

01Identity

Bochica in South American tradition

Bochica appears in the Muisca and Chibcha accounts as a solar figure and an old bearded man who taught people how to plant, build huts and live together. His wife became jealous of the time he spent with the people and sent a flood to destroy them. Bochica then set things right and dried the flood, while one account says he made his wife the moon. The flood story is the focus here, not a general account of every teaching or every conflict associated with his name. Its stable movement is clear: Bochica's instruction is interrupted by the flood, and the solar figure restores dry land after his wife's act. The account leaves him connected to both the people he taught and the water that covered their land.

SourceCreation Myths of the World: Parts I-II: Muysca (Muisca)· Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (ed. Félix Guirand, 1959): South America

Top questions

The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of Bochica

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Bochica Drains the Flood

An old bearded man named Bochica appeared among the people of the Cundinamarca plateau. They lived without laws, agriculture or religion. Bochica taught them how to build huts and how to live together. Another account describes him as a very old bearded man who taught planting and rituals, and identifies him with the Sun. His work with the people gave his wife a reason to turn against him.

Bochica's wife was jealous of the time he spent with the people. She could not overcome his power directly, so she sent a flood to destroy them. The water interrupted the order Bochica had been teaching. The account presents the flood as her act, while Bochica is the figure who responds to its damage.

The Sun then set things right. He dried up the flood, restoring the land that had been covered by the water. In one telling he also made his wife the moon. The change placed her in the sky while the flood receded below. The event therefore moves from teaching, to jealousy, to destruction and then to repair.

The Chibcha account also calls Bochica a great solar god and creator of civilisation and the arts. It places the flood inside the longer story of his work among the people, but this episode ends with the water removed. Creation Myths of the World: Parts I-II calls Bochia the Sun and gives the compact outcome: his wife sent the flood, the Sun set things right, made her the moon and dried the flood. Bochica's act is the turning movement of the story. He does not send the water. He answers it and leaves the people with dry land.

Bochica Drains the Flood, a MythSource painting of the scene

2 sources· checked 2026-09-22

  1. 1Creation Myths of the World: Parts I-IIT1
  2. 2Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (ed. Félix Guirand, 1959)T1
03Different accounts

Different accounts

›The accounts differ in whether Bochica is named Bochia and whether the teaching is framed as planting and ritual or as huts and social life; they agree that his wife sends the flood and Bochica dries it.

    The accounts that differ: Creation Myths of the World: Parts I-II, Muysca (Muisca); Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (ed. Félix Guirand, 1959), South America

    From “Bochica Drains the Flood”