Common Terms of the California Missions
Man on horseback.
Native-born Californians of full or partial Hispanic heritage.
A drink made from the fruit of the prickly pear or tuna cactus.
Bell tower. Can be free standing or attached.
Literally means “Holy Field.” The cemetery.
A name used by European explorers and settlers to identify Chumash peoples who lived in the Santa Barbara Channel area. The word is also used today by some researchers to refer to the group of Native Americans who lived in the Channel area thousands of years ago and who are probably ancestors of the Chumash.
Candlesticks in Spanish.
Spanish for Canyon
A singer in church services, which was often a neophyte Indian.
Wooden, two-wheeled cart, pulled by oxen. The cart was the principal mode of transporting items in Alta California.
Government buildings, town hall.
People of mixed blood, as opposed to Spanish and Indians.
The formal burial grounds for the remains of the dead. Most of the mission cemeteries were sited adjacent to the mission church.
A monument erected to honor someone whose mortal remains are elsewhere.
A monument built to honor people whose remains are buried elsewhere elsewhere.
The area in a church containing the altar and seats for the clergy.
The natives living in the Santa Barbara area.
A cook, probably for the priest, since this was normally not a normal male occupation within the Indian population.
The side altars in a church.
A deputy or commissioner. As normally used in California, he was a non-commissioned officer serving on detached duty as a magistrate of a pueblo or villa.
An office established in California in 1812 to assist the Father President in the supervision of missionaries and liaison with the territorial government.
A cluster of connected buildings. Most missions were built as a quadrangle including a church, padre’s quarters and workshops, with native quarters, warehouses and other buildings surrounding the central compound.
The padre’s residence in the mission complex.
A long walkway or gallery around the inner patio. These were usually arched or colonnaded.
Spaniards born in the New World.
Protective several-ply leather jacket, usually sleeveless and of thigh length.
A small rounded structure built on top of a roof or bell tower.