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Suzie Q

Indians at the Mission

Once they moved to Mission San Juan Bautista, the lives of
the Native Americans were changed forever. For example, once
they were baptized they were required to live at the mission.
The unmarried women and young girls were required to live in a
special building called a nunnery. They could visit friends and
family in the evening but at night they had to return to the
nunnery. A mayordomo locked them in every night. The married
couples actually were allowed to live in small two-room adobe
huts beside the mission, which was unusual compared to near by
missions. Just as life changing was that they had to practice the
Catholic religion. Every day the neophytes had to attend church
and say prayers. They also learned to sing religious songs in
Latin. Their favorite part of church was singing in the choir and
they were so good at it that people would come from other
missions to listen to them. Before coming to the mission the
Mustun had not believed in the idea of a soul. They had a vague
idea that when people died their spirits went “to a sacred place in
the west.” Even at the mission they still went to their shaman, a
religious leader, for spiritual help and guidance. Possibly the
hardest part was that the neophytes struggled with their health.
The neophytes were exposed to European diseases such as
measles. They did not have the ability to fight these diseases and
there were many deaths. The padres tried to help them by
providing medicine but it did not help much. The neophytes also
suffered from severe dysentery because of the huge change of
diet. Eventually 70% of the neophytes at the mission died. In
summary, once the Native Americans at Mission San Juan Bautista
were baptized, their lives were never the same again.