Metztli De La Cruz, 22, is of the Tongva Tribe who are also known as Gabrielinos in Los Angeles County. Metztli practices her people's traditions as an herbalist, is Catholic, and likes visiting the San Gabriel Mission. One day, she goes to a forbid...
Hello, fellow readers and writers. This story will contain aspects of abuse, racism, and other mature themes. I was inspired to write this story after visiting a couple of California Missions—there are 21 total. What intrigued and surprised me was that the information within the Missions explained what the Padres (Priests in Spanish) had done for the Tongva Tribe and other Native American Tribes. The wording made it sound that the Padres had done 'wonderful' things that assisted the Native Americans.
However, when I researched ideas for this story, I found compelling eyewitness accounts of survivors who went through the atrocities in the Missions. I wanted to write this story to show you some of the aspects that occurred. Out of all the Missions, I chose the San Gabriel Mission since there were more witness accounts from that particular Mission.
Nearly 6,000 Tongva People are still buried beneath the Mission. I have tried researching the language but discovered it had become extinct and was Uto-Aztecan. However, the current descendants are trying to decipher using surviving documents. I decided to use the Nahuatl language, spoken by the Aztecs, as a substitute. I am not entirely fluent, but I will do my best.
I will also use the Spanish language, which I will translate.
Thank you for giving my story a chance.
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