INDIANS TO JOIN CELEBRATION; MISSION TO HONOR BICENTENNIAL, VALLEY HISTORY.

Byline: Anne Burke Daily News Staff Writer

The San Fernando Mission's 200th birthday party will include participation by American Indians, now that tribal members have settled their disagreements with event organizers.

Still, members of the Fernandeno Tataviam Tribal Council say their contributions to the Sept. 5-7 event may be somber in recognition of what many consider a particularly painful chapter of American Indian history.

``They're asking us to celebrate the beginning of the end of our freedom,'' said council member Jim Garcia. ``What's to celebrate?''

Although many historians dispute such accounts, Fernandeno Tataviam tribal members contend that Indians provided the muscle and sweat to build the San Fernando Mission under conditions equivalent to forced labor. They say Indians often were physically abused at the hands of the Spanish.

Calling the tribal members' complaints ``a lot of smoke over nothing,'' Thom Davis, past vice president of the California Mission Studies Association, insisted that their historical accounts are inaccurate.

``The fact is that the history of the mission here in San Fernando is a very peaceful, docile history. There were no big scandals,'' Davis said.

While disputes over history may never be resolved, other points of contention have been settled as a result of talks among Rudy Ortega Sr., chairman of the Fernandeno Tataviam council; Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who is organizing the celebration; and Monsignor Francis Weber of the San Fernando Mission.

The name of the event, ``A Celebration of the San Fernando Mission Bicentennial,'' was expanded by adding ``and the History of the San Fernando Valley.'' Ortega, known by his Indian name Chief Little Bear, and his son, Rudy Ortega Jr., the tribe's spiritual leader, had protested the shorter name. They said it focused on Spanish settlers and the Catholic Church to the exclusion of other cultures and races who populated the oaken valley that became the mission site.

``Don't forget that Native Americans were there before the mission was built,'' said the senior Ortega.

Alarcon said that he is pleased with the name change because it more accurately reflects the nature of the celebration, always intended to draw on the history of the entire San Fernando Valley and not just the mission.

Named for St. Ferdinand III, king of Spain, Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana was founded Sept. 8, 1797.

According to Davis, the settlement closed the gap between missions in San Gabriel and Ventura, but its main purpose was as a center for the conversion of the native population to Catholicism.

``The missions were established to be set up for 10 years. At the end of the 10 years, once the people were converted, this would be the nucleus for a new town, and the missionaries would go on to establish a new mission,'' Davis said.

The Tataviam tribe, dubbed Fernandenos by the Spaniards, inhabited the Valley, chosen as the site for the 17th mission.

At its peak, the mission's Indian population numbered about 2,000 in the early 1800s, Davis said.

Birthday activities will be staged at the mission, located in Mission Hills, and across the street at Brand Park.

Events will include a candlelight procession, historical symposium, re-enactments in period costume, a multicultural parade, and lots of food and music.

In another change at the tribe's request, Weber canceled a ceremony in which he was to release 150 doves in honor of more than 2,400 Indians interred in a burial site beside the mission cemetery.

Fernandeno Tataviam tribal members said they rightfully should conceive and perform a ceremony.

Weber immediately bowed out and turned the burial-site commemoration over to the tribe after the Ortegas told him how they felt at a meeting last week.

``They didn't want the (dove) ceremony, so we said fine,'' Weber said.

The tribe plans a private rather than a public ceremony, including song and prayer, with a few members of the press but no cameras, said the senior Ortega.

``This is a very sacred ceremony,'' he said.

The last burial at the site was in 1852. Ortega said his great-grandfather is among those interred there.

While Alarcon cannot settle historical disputes, he said that he envisions the celebration as a forum for the expression of differing viewpoints.

``It will be wonderful to hear both of these perspectives,'' he said.

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Photo

Photo: (Color) Rudy Ortega Sr., known to his tribe as Chief Little Bear, left, and his son Rudy Jr. visit the San Fernando Mission.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News