History of America SPANISH MISSIONS Forever Changing the People of the Old West Written by Nadia Higgins Rourke Educational Media rourkeeducationalmedia com Scan for Related Titles and Teacher Resources
Chapter 1 Daily Duties at the Mission The bells rang out as the first streaks of sunlight appeared on the horizon This was the sound that began the day at a California mission In the early nineteenth century most of present-day California was wild and rugged land The Spanish mission was a walled-in town rising out of the desert As the day wore on and the sun climbed higher in the sky the walls of the mission turned golden brown They were made of adobe bricks molded from mud and straw Several feet thick these adobe walls helped control who could enter and exit the mission Bells and cross of the Mission San Miguel California 4
Jutting above the walls was an impressive stone church The church was far more beautiful than the other buildings In the slanted morning light the wooden cross on top of the building cast a long shadow The cross announced the mission’s purpose to spread Christianity throughout the region Different buildings served other important aspects of the mission Buildings for making leather cloth soap and candles for forging metal and for preparing food would soon be buzzing with the sounds of workers Outside the mission walls fields of wheat barley and other crops were ready to be tended Farther out hundreds sometimes thousands of cattle grazed on the land Three main groups of people lived in the mission hundreds of Native Americans two or three Catholic priests or padres as they were called and six or so Spanish soldiers The Native Americans were the reason for the mission The padres wanted them to give up their religion and culture As much as possible they were to become Christians with European ways and manners The Native Americans were also the mission’s workers 5
