Monster of Lake Tota monstrous fish", "a black monster", and even as "the Dragon" and as a "divine animal archetype" (2012). The description of the monster of Lake Tota is limited to historical references and what is known within the study of Muisca mythology. A report of an alleged sighting took place in 1652. The legend of the monster of Lake Tota also analyzed using cryptozoology, a pseudoscience has ties to cases such as the Loch Ness monster (Nessie) in Scotland, the monster of Lake Nahuel Huapi (Nahuelito) in Argentina, or "The Hide" of the Mapuche mythology in Argentina and Chile (relates to a
Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology groves are widely attested among the records of the ancient Germanic peoples. Some scholars hypothesize that they even predated the development of temples (according to Rudolf Simek, "there were sacred woods long before there were temples and altars"). In his "Germania", Tacitus says that the Germanic peoples "consecrate woods and groves and they apply the name of gods to that mysterious presence which they see only with the eye of devotion", Tacitus describes the grove of the Semnones and refers to a "castum nemus" (chaste grove) in which the image of the goddess Nerthus was hallowed, and other reports from