SAINT JOSEPH'S DAY AND THE RETURN OF THE SWALLOWS CELEBRATION

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Don’t miss this world renowned celebration every March, marking the return of our famous swallows to Capistrano and the coming of spring- a time of renewal and rebirth. Read the story of San Juan Capistrano's mission swallows and watch the Mission Tone News swallows video.

Click to watch the mission bell ringing on Saint Joseph's Day

This annual celebration includes:

• Ringing of the historic bells
• Live music
• Community presentations
• Special Guest Lecture On Cliff Swallows
• Mission Parish School performances
• History of St. Joseph's Day and Swallows Legend

Click here to download the event schedule

Renowned Cliff Swallows Expert , Dr. Charles R. Brown.
How Cliff Swallows Choose Where to Live
Space is limited in this lecture, RSVP today.
Article courtesy of Phi Kappa Phi Forum

History of St. Joseph's Day and the Swallows Legend

The swallows are said to migrate annually to Goya, Argentina in October, and return to their spring and summer home in San Juan Capistrano each March. The Swallows celebration began centuries ago when Mission padres observed that the birds return roughly coincided with St. Joseph's Day on the church calendar, March 19. The celebration has achieved international prominence since then.

In his book, Capistrano Nights, Father St. John O'Sullivan, Pastor of Mission San Juan Capistrano 1910-33, relates how the swallows first came to call the Mission home. One day, while walking through town, Fr. O'Sullivan saw a shopkeeper, broomstick in hand, knocking down the conically shaped mud swallow nests that were under the eaves of his shop. The birds were darting back and forth through the air squealing over the destruction of their homes.

"What in the world are you doing?" Fr. O'Sullivan asked.

"Why, these dirty birds are a nuisance and I am getting rid of them!" the shopkeeper responded.

"But where can they go?"

"I don't know and I don't care," he replied, slashing away with his pole. "But they've no business here, destroying my property"

Fr. O'Sullivan then said, "Come on swallows, I'll give you shelter. Come to the Mission. There's room enough there for all."

The very next morning, the padre discovered the swallows busy building their nests outside the newly restored sacristy of Father Serra's Church. Another favorite spot was the ruins of the Great Stone Church, which was once lined with hundreds of swallows' nests.

Fr. O'Sullivan noticed that the small birds migrated south in the autumn and returned to the Mission in spring on St. Joseph's Day, March 19th. Upon their arrival, the swallows immediately went to work patching up their old nests, building new ones, and disputing possession of others with 'vagrant sparrow families' as they may have taken up illegal quarter there during the swallows' absence.

With a great flutter of wings, the swallows would peck at the soil, fly with a bit of it from the old Mission lagoon to the northeast of the buildings. Using the water they made a paste of the earth in their beaks, amid more fluttering of wings at the pond's edge. They then flew to the eaves of the Mission to deliver their loads of mud plaster for the walls of their inverted houses, and, as O'Sullivan observed, "receive the noisy congratulations of their mates".

One of Fr. O' Sullivan's companions at the Mission, José de Gracia Cruz, known as Acú, told Fr. O'Sullivan many stories and legends of the Mission. Acú, a descendent of the Juaneño band of Mission Indians, was the Mission's bell ringer until his death in 1924, and spent long hours under the Mission's famed pepper tree making various items from leather.

One of Acú's most colorful tales was that of the swallows (or las golondrinas as he called them). Acú believed that the swallows flew over the Atlantic Ocean to Jerusalem each winter. In their beaks they carried little twigs, on which they could rest on water when tired.

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Mission San Juan Capistrano plans fun, day and night for the whole family! For event dates and times, visit our calendar.

Underwriting and sponsorships available for all events, for more information please contact Sabrina Irsay at (949) 234-1317.

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