Visit to Mission San Jose

As a part of field trip of the 4th graders, we went to visit Mission San Jose. The weather was not in our favor. It had been raining since the night before. It was not at all a weather to venture out. However, as it was prescheduled, we had to make it possible on that day. Only the kids missed few things.

 

The top of the bell looks like Crown. Actually the bells were created like that way to show gratitude to Spanish Emperor who was main patron of the missions.

When we started from school the sky was gloomy, but not raining. As soon as we reached the mission, it started raining. It was mostly indoor visit, so we just took a group picture of the kids on the staircase of the church in rain, and quickly went inside. Though the church  of the mission looks like as it was built in late 18th century, but it was not the original one. After a devastating earthquake the church was totally destroyed, ultimately it was rebuilt in 1985, replicating the original one. So, the water stain on rooftop, is not actual stain, but was colored like that  during reconstruction to give original look. Only one part of the original structure is still standing there, and the mission authority is trying desperately to preserve. So, kids were strictly instructed not to touch the walls, as the oil from hands would diminish the longevity of the structure.

First we went inside the remaining original structure, which is now the mission museum. To keep the structure, the original floor was changed , keeping the color of the tiles. Only in a small portion of the floor, the original tiles  still exist. From that we can clearly understand how much it differs from handmade tiles to machine made tiles. 

Anyway, we came to know about the history of the mission. Before the Spanish explorers came to the land, it was inhabited by Ohlone Indian for thousands years. There were no horse on this very land, so the native Americans had no ideas about horse. In their life time they didn’t go further that 10-15 miles from their home. The homes were little huts, which was mainly used for sleeping in the night. Other than that they used to stay outside home, the whole beautiful world was their home. Life was peaceful. 

The Spanish explorers took the Indians as laborer, to built the mission, and the supervisors were the Franciscan padres. They taught  the Indians to built tiles, bricks, and to built the mission. They were baptized. Baptism of the Indians was an integral part of the mission. The life in mission was strange to them. Their traditional life was much more independent, and they were habituated to keep pace according to the work. During the acorn gathering they used work day and night. The relation between the mission authority on the Indians was not always smooth, rather it was rocky enough. They often faced the soldiers of the Spanish Army. The most tragic part was that, which even the educated Spanish couldn’t anticipated was diseases. The Indians were not immune to small pox or measles, which the European brought with them. Those diseases finished the Indians within two generations.

After Mexico declared independence from Spain and make California secular, the Missions were abandoned. After the United States captured California, from Mexico, the missions were again revived.  

Next we went to see the small cemetery just beside the church. Hundreds of people from mission period were buried there. Then we came back inside the church. The church was rebuilt in the year 1985. Only few replicas are still there, and beautifully preserved. Most of the colors are red,green, and yellow, because those are the colors were available at that time. They used to make colors, what were available in their hands, all colors were made from vegetables.

Anyway, then we came back inside the museum. The museum was actually the place where the Father used to live. Where our guide talked about the mission was the dinning room the Father. We saw many of the artifacts are kept from that era. Even the dress, the chair, and the cot are still kept there. We were there from for about three hours, then we came back.