A Mission Fulfilled : After 140 Years, Juaneno Tribe Is Officially Recognized by the State

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO —  After more than a century of protest to correct a “mistake of history,” the Juanenos finally have been heard.

About 100 people gathered Tuesday at Mission San Juan Capistrano to celebrate the state’s official recognition of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians as the original native tribe of Orange County.

With the scent of burning ceremonial California sage in the air, the Juanenos sang, danced and spoke of the struggle that led the state Legislature in September to pass a resolution recognizing them.

“For the state to finally come around after 140 years, that’s just fantastic,” said David Belardes, chairman of the Juaneno tribal council.

It was a “mistake of history,” according to Garnet Birch of the Native American Indian Cultural Center, that left the Juanenos unrecognized as the Native Americans who greeted the Spaniards when they arrived to found the mission in 1776.

“In 1850, bureaucrats made a list of all the Indians in the country. By the stroke of a pen, the Juanenos were left out,” the cultural center’s DeAnne Tate explained.

Since then, the Juaneno people, about 3,000 of whom live in California, have battled for acceptance, tribal officials said.

The history of the Juanenos goes back 10,000 years in the canyons, beaches and arid hills of Southern California, according to tribal leaders. At one time, the tribe occupied a coastal area stretching from what is now Huntington Beach to the north, Oceanside to the south and inland to Cleveland National Forest, Lake Elsinore and Corona.

The Juanenos lived in villages loosely organized around a family group, and traveled between communities from the mountains to the coast, according to tribal history.

They ate a variety of foods, from deer to bear--the grizzly once lived in the Santa Ana Mountains--to fish and shellfish.

After the Spaniards and Father Junipero Serra arrived, the Juaneno village of Acjachemen at the fork of what are now San Juan and Trabuco creeks became the mission siten.

Like the Gabrielinos in the San Gabriel Valley and the Luisenos in northern San Diego County, the Juanenos were named by the Spaniards who converted them to Christianity in the 18th Century.

Their own religion, Chinigchinich, and language, Acjachemen, were nearly lost during colonization by the Catholic Spaniards.

But a few of the elders clung to Juaneno ways and preserved their customs, said George Gollette of Hawaiian Gardens.

“I thank God for those who have worked so hard,” said Gollette, 63. “People like my Aunt Jessie, who worked to get us together.”

At least partly because of their lack of recognition, Juanenos have faced neglect even as they experienced racial discrimination, said Frank Gollette, 64, of Paramount. But the respect now won from the state helps change that, he said.

“There were a lot of Indians who didn’t want to say they were Indians,” Gollette said. “But now, people aren’t holding back.”

An emotional Pete (Many Horses) Mares said it felt wonderful to celebrate the recognition of his people.

“We’ve been protesting for 500 years, but nobody ever heard us,” said Mares, 66, of Santa Ana. “I only wish my father could have seen this, or my grandfather.”