Before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the tribal chief of the Muisca native people of Colombia has an amazing initiation rite: he has to cover himself with gold dust and later dive into Lake Guatavita (a lake outside current-day Bogota). This ceremony inspired the legend of El Dorado.
The most known representation of this ceremony is the Muisca Raft, held on permanent display in the Gold Museum in Bogota.
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