California Mission
San Fernando Rey de España
15151 San Fernando Mission Blvd. Mission hills, CA 91345
Native Life
Fernandeno people occupied the vast northern half of Los Angeles County while the Gabrieleno occupied the southern region of the county.
Tataviam people lived in small villages. They are characterized as “semi nomadic,” meaning that they moved to seasonal areas based on climate and available resources. Their villages were organized under structures of lineage. Each separate lineage was made up of a “headman, assistants and ceremonial leaders” Both women and men attained positions of political and ceremonial status within each lineage. This system also governed the occupation of specific territories, economic practices, intermarriage and cultural or ceremonial activities. (http://www.tataviam-nsn.us/heritage/history/social-and-political)
Tataviam homes, called Ki’j were made out of willow branches and bark. They were dome shaped with a hole at the top and about 12-20 feet in circumference. Fires could be build inside and animal skins were used to cover the dome during rainy days. Tataviam harvested sage, seeds, nuts, grasses, juniper and acorns and hunted fish, birds, rabbit, antelope, deer, and reptiles. (How the Tataviam Survived and Thrived, Lecture by Laurie Solis, http://scvtv.com/?p=14576)
Cultural Impacts
The Spanish attempted to force Indians to assimilate into Spanish culture and give up their traditional way of life. Indians were forced to change their religious beliefs, diet, and daily routines, though many Indians resisted. Missionaries required Indians to study Christianity, Spanish language, and Spanish customs in order to assimilate into Spanish life. California Indians were forbidden from speaking in their native tongue, practicing traditional religious ceremonies, and eating traditional foods. Sugar and milk was introduced to the diet of Indians working the missions, leading to tooth decay, life threatening infections, diabetes and other health issues. Within two years of living in the missions, many Indians lost all of their teeth.
Indians also struggled with the livestock and diseases that the Spanish brought to California. Indians used various techniques, like burning small areas of the forest to restore nutrients to the soil, in order to work the land and harvest plants for food and medicine. Cows, goats, pigs, and chickens overgrazed the lands tended by Indians, turning Indian crops into trampled wilderness. Livestock forced native animals to compete for food, throwing the ecosystem out of balance. The Spanish also brought diseases like Measles, Influenza and Small Pox to California. Unlike the Spanish, the native peoples did not have the opportunity to build up natural immunities to these diseases. The introduction of European diseases devastated native populations, wiping out entire villages.
“This mission became famous for its ironwork. The Indians made plows, tools, cattle brands, hinges, and scissors. They traded them to other missions and to ships. There were many acres of fine grapevines. When the grapes ripened, it was time for wine making. Juice was pressed from grapes by barefoot Indians.” (Bauer, Helen. California Mission Days. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1951. Print.)
Colonization & Governance
The Spanish plan for governance and maintenance of the missions in California was supposed to be carried out over a ten year period. The plan called for the missionaries to “convert” the Indians to Christianity and “train” them to perform manual labor. After a period of ten years it was anticipated that the Franciscan missionaries would turn their missions over to parish priests and the Indians in the missions would live “assimilated” into Spanish culture in Indian “pueblos” or towns. This ten year plan was actually carried out over the course of fifty years. There were many factors that contributed to things not going as they had planned. There were large scale resistance efforts by California Indian tribes. The rate of disease and death was high among populations of Indians at the missions. Thus the military and church expended vast resources on continual expeditions to “capture” Indians in the regions of California that had thus far been untouched by disease. Additionally, California Indians did not adopt religious practices and Spanish culture in a way that was satisfactory to the church and government authorities. Thus, the Indian people would have to be forced to maintain the lifestyle the Spanish planned to assimilated them to under a colonial authority.
Resistance
California Indians engaged in widespread resistance to Spanish colonization. Resistance came in many forms. Large scale revolts were organized simultaneously among multiple Indians at several missions. Many individuals and groups attempted to escape. Stock raids were organized with other tribal groups. Others refused to work, attend church services, or bear children fathered by Spanish soldiers. Some groups continued to practice their traditions and ceremonies in secret. Indians were punished by the missionaries for exercising these forms of resistance. Native accounts of punishment describe executions, whippings, shackling, confinement, being made to wear wooden collars with metal hooks and many other forms of physical and psychological humiliation and cruelty.
“Between 1886 and 1951, the Tataviam band members lived in a highly discriminatory environment that discouraged use of Indian languages, the expression of Native identity and culture, promoted segregated living patterns, and discouraged actions to uphold band land and political rights. The community gathered and lived during this period in the old section of the city of San Fernando, a couple of miles east of the San Fernando Church grounds. Most worked as laborers, semi-skilled workers, and ranch hands. The San Fernando Mission Indians maintained organization and political leadership patterns based on lineage groups, and regional ties to related lineages in the area. After the Captain Rogerio Rocha passed in 1904, Antonio Maria Ortega was recognized as Captain by 1910, because he spoke the Tataviam language, and had considerable cultural and historical knowledge of the community.” (http://www.tataviam-nsn.us/heritage/history/social-and-political)
Secularizations
Mexico won their independence from Spain in 1821 and took control of California. The Mexican government passed laws in 1834 to secularize the missions, meaning that the government took control over the missions away from the priests and gave it to the Indians. The initial plan was for the secularized missions to become Indians towns, or pueblos, and to divide half of the land for the Indians and the other half for the priests. The Indians were also instructed to tend the common area between the two pieces of land. A Mexican government administrator was assigned to each mission to inventory property, livestock and other items of value. Upon the completion of the inventory the official was in charge of distributing the land and valuables to the Indians. Five Indian pueblos were established in total: Flores, Pala, San Dieguito, San Juan Capistrano and San Pasqual.
General Information
San Fernando Rey de España
CA aboriginal people:
The Mission Indians of San Fernando were referred to as Fernandeno, after the mission. Though originally identified with the Tataviam.
Current CA Indian tribe(s) in area:
Fernandeno Tataviam Band of Mission Indians
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