Rooms

SANTA ANA MISSION

The Mission of Santa Ana Tamlajax was located in a small valley, the horse pasture of the Tamcolon hacienda, “where many mules were found and rounded up” the mission’s Indians who were also tenant farmers of the hacienda. The families and individuals listed in the 1777 census were as follows: 8 Spanish families, with 38 members,10 families of muleteers, with 32 members.

The Tamlajax mission was situated, to the south of Villa de Valles and approximately twelve leagues (32 miles) to the east. It had a good water supply provided by a stream that flowed a long of town. The Indians grew excellent corn and bean crops and prepared high quality brown sugar. All were instructed Christian doctrine and were well mannered but only a few knew Spanish. Their “natural” tongue was huasteco. Instead of paying tribute and tithes and spending money on festivals, each family contributed a “real” after mass during the first six months of each year. They refused to accept or permit drunkenness or any other vice and if some stranger behaved badly, “they covered him with adobe and ran him out of town”.