Cześć! :) Hi and welcome to Colombia,
where the only risk is wanting to stay.
Welcome to the land of gold
and fascinating pre-Columbian culture.
It might be hard to believe for us
but pre-Columbian culture didn't associate gold
with any commertial value.
According to their mythology,
gold was God,
Sun and Beginning of all life and creation.
It was a sacred metal,
reserved for the most important people in a tribe:
Cacique - the social leader
and Shaman - the spiritual leader.
Because gold is a soft metal,
it was mixed with copper
in different proportions, making the famous precolombian alloy
called TUMBAGA.
It symbolized at the same time
the union between a man and a woman,
where gold was masculine
and coopper - femenine.
The pre-Columbian gold fever
started with El Dorado legend.
At the local Lake Guatavita near present-day Bogota,
the Muisca tribe choose their new cacique.
This young man,
after 6 years of celibate and fasting,
swam on a raft to the middle of the lake
and offerered treasures to the gods they worshipped.
The figure of this raft called La Balsa Muisca
is the most famous exhibit of the Gold Museum
and the witness of old times.
It is tiny and small,
but it takes you back to the moment of the cacique initiation.
POPORO is a device used by a shaman in religious ceremonies
to mix coca leaves with lime which was obtained from sea shells.
Coca leaves have medical properties
and help to work in the high Andes.
The most famous poporo, the Golden Poporo from Quimbaya culture
that you find you can find in the very middle of the Gold Museum.
Is not only the symbol of Colombia,
but also according to some experts, a symbol of perfect feminine figure.
Caciques adorned their body with jewelry,
golden powder and jaguar skin.
Shamans also used golden objects
to adorn their bodies, mainly:
nose rings,
breast plates,
and and their heads with sun-reflecting golden disks,
that reflected the sun.
They had psychological function,
as they showed their contact with other dimensions.
These were shamans who had a contact with spiritual world
through ritual process using trance,
rhythm
and hallucynogenic plants
like "plant of the truth" -
- YAGÉ,
also known as AYAHUASCA.
Yage rituals, conducted by TAITAS -
tribal guides or shamans,
are popular to these days.
You can travel to pre-Columbian times
by visiting the most famous museum of gold in the world -
Museo del Oro in Bogota.
Here you will find as many as 34,000 pieces of art,
all at least 500-year old,
many of them found by chance on the fields by farmers.
These pre-Columbian treasures,
mainly clay pots and urns
are found even today.
Those who happen to find such a precious treasure
are allowed to keep them as long as they notify curator of the Gold Museum.
If you are interested in Colombia and want to know more,
get in touch and SUBSCRIBE to our channel.
See you on Facebook and Instagram as
#POLACA En COLOMBIA.
Do zobaczenia - See you soon! :))
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