Marlene Hitt
From the book "Christmas in California, Part Two" by Jose Ramon Pico
is the description of Christmas in California well more than a century
ago.
It seems that there was little business in 1847 other than the raising
of cattle. All summer, the cows "fed over the oat-covered hills in the
mornings and mowed away the clover into their four stomachs during the
afternoons." By November, they were so fat they could barely walk, and
the Vaqueros would drive their herd to be killed for hides and tallow.
For six weeks there was plenty of work preparing the hides and
rendering the tallow. There was more meat than needed, so the choice
parts were dried in the sun to make carne seca, to save for later use in
enchiladas and chile con carne.
As soon as the last hide was piled under the shed roof and the last
scoopful of tallow ladled into its bag, and the sacks of carne seca
stowed away with the chiles and frijoles, the preparation for the Fiesta
began.
By the time of the Fiesta del Cristo, the Native American had been
eating, eating, day and night; "the Mahalas made bread of acorns, laurel
nuts and chestnuts; baked beans and meat...Much Fiesta! There never had
been such plenty until the padres came." By Christmas there would be as
many as 300 Native Americans at the mission.
"We made presents, though there was no Santa Claus then. To the
Indians, we gave young beeves to kill for fresh meat and also red
blankets and handkerchiefs." To the padre at the mission, gifts of carne
seca, peppers, sweet potatoes and sacks of beans were given, and the big
bundles of dry hides to use for making furniture and rawhide fastenings.
On La Noche Buena there were many families gathered at the hacienda.
"My uncle, Pio Pico, and my father, chief justice of the supreme
court, had no lack of company." All came on horseback, as there were
neither carriages nor roads, and that way of travel added to the pleasure
and romance of the occasion, the women showing off their beauty while
mounted on a favorite pony that knew how to show off; the men, active,
brave looking.
In the house, a structure built in the form of a hollow square with
rooms opening on inner verandas, were rooms with fireplaces in each. The
guests brought their servants who drew provisions from the ample supplies
in the storerooms.
Jose Ramon Pico remembered one Christmas eve: "There was a full moon
and a glittering frost over the ground, enough to whiten but not enough
to injure the fruit on the orange trees. Numerous lanterns were hung on
