FACT-FINDING MISSION : EXPERIENCE THE DAYS OF THE PADRES AT LA PURISIMA'S HISTORICAL RE-ENACTMENTS.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

Step back in time this month at Mission La Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santisima between Buellton and Lompoc when two events will re-create life in mission times.

Saturday is Purisima People's Day, when 40 to 60 docents - including dozens of children - dress as mission inhabitants and re-enact mission activities that include blacksmithing, bread baking, sewing, weaving, livestock tending, gardening, carpentry and adobe making.

And on May 18, many of the same activities occur as the mission celebrates Mission Life Day.

The difference between the two events is a state of mind and a little imagination, said Mike Curry, superintendent of the mission, which is one of only three missions statewide that are state parks. La Purisima is the most completely restored of the 21 missions established by the Franciscan fathers in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

``At both events, docents are dressed as people would have dressed in 1822 and go about the traditional mission activities,'' Curry said.

``But on People's Day, if you asked me where to find the nearest McDonald's, I would tell you I didn't know any McDonalds, that nobody named McDonald lives around here, but maybe you could ask one of the padres.

``On Mission Life Day, I'd tell you McDonald's is downtown, and how to get there. The difference is on People's Day, it is 1822 for us; we truly go back in history just for a day.''

A stop at the mission, even without costumed docents, feels like a visit to the past. You leave your car in the parking lot and approach the mission on foot either across a wooden bridge or by following wagon ruts through a field of golden grain.

Corrals are filled with sheep and cows; water courses down the original aqueduct and splashes in the lavanderias, or clothes-washing pools. There's a stillness broken only by the occasional clanging of the bronze mission bells, cast for the mission in Lima, Peru, in 1817 and 1818.

Mission buildings are just as they were in 1822, with thick adobe walls and heavy wooden doors; 37 of the original rooms are restored and furnished. A kitchen has a clay oven and a low platform that holds giant iron pots for cooking; an outdoor adobe oven is where bread was baked. In another room, an arrangement of wooden spokes holds just-made candles. In another, a table is laid for dinner with pottery, pewter and willowware. A workshop has the beginnings of wooden spoons and other kitchen utensils. Another room is nearly filled with a loom.

The bedrooms generally hold a single straw mattress resting on a wooden frame fitted with rope webbing. Coverlets are coarse but colorful, woven at the mission. In a few bedrooms, carved wooden cradles sit next to the beds. There are no closets, only a few heavy wooden chests to hold personal belongings.

The soldiers' garrison - there were always Spanish soldiers assigned to protect the mission from enemies - is even more barren, with two rows of cots, a heavy wooden table and chairs, the walls hung with swords, guns and other weapons.

The mission church is almost startling in its simplicity, lit only by a couple of small windows set high in the side walls. At one end is a simple altar, backed by paintings by Chumash artists. There are no pews, no benches; the mission fathers and their converts sat on the floor or stood. Beneath the altar is the grave of Father Mariano Payeras, who served the mission from 1804 until his death in 1823.

Add people posing as mission inhabitants, and the old buildings come alive: A boy tends cattle; women bake bread; a man whittles spoons; a woman manipulates a loom, weaving blankets; another woman shells peas.

Re-creations of mission life will be staged twice a month through early October, said Curry. In October, similar tableaux will be staged on weekdays for local fourth-graders, who study the California missions in their history classes.

La Purisima was founded Dec. 8, 1787, with about 1,500 Chumash converts, two padres and a handful of Spanish soldiers. It prospered until 1812, when an earthquake leveled the structure. The next year, a new mission was rebuilt about four miles further north, at the mission's present site. The mission was abandoned in 1834 under civil control of the mission system, and the buildings crumbled with neglect. But 100 years later, restoration of La Purisima began under the combined efforts of county, state and federal agencies.

Most of the work was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which re-created the old structure as it was in 1820, with handmade adobe bricks and hand-hewn wooden beams. Paint and plaster were matched to the colors in the old mission ruins. But this time, the builders made the structure earthquake safe. The restoration was dedicated as part of the state park system on Dec. 7, 1941.

The mission has retained its historic value - and its simplicity - largely because of its location, said Curry. It's well outside the city proper, surrounded by 900 acres of grounds that include 12 miles of hiking trails.

``Most missions today are in the middle of a town, with all the business and traffic,'' he said. ``But we're isolated from the rest of the world. When you come here, you can really feel that you've stepped back in time, that time has stood still.''

Parking at the mission, 2295 Purisima Road, costs $5 per car, which also includes a visit to the tiny mission visitors center. There is no additional charge for touring the mission grounds.

The mission is open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day; hours vary with the season. Park information: [phone]. Tour information: [phone].

Future dates for trip to past

Purisima Peoples Day events also will be staged June 1, July 6, Aug. 3, Sept. 7 and Oct. 5. Mission Life Day celebrations are set for June 23, July 20, Aug. 17 and Sept. 21. A mountain men's encampment will be re-enacted at the mission Aug. 23 and 24.

Two evenings of candlelight tours, fund-raisers for the mission, are scheduled Oct. 11 and 12, with costumed docents leading tours that end in dinner with the mission padres. Tickets are $25 per person and go on sale July 1.

The mission's annual Founding Day celebration will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 8, with outdoor luminarias and an evening of music. Tickets are free, but seating is limited; tickets - limited to six per family - are available beginning Nov. 1 at the mission visitors center.

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Photo, Box

Photo: A docent operates a loom at Mission La Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santisima.

Carol Bidwell/Daily News

Box: Future dates for trip to past (See Text)