NATHAN BANDA STEPPED up to the bell wall, or campanario, at Mission San Juan Capistrano, taking his
place beside Michael “Mission Mike” Gastelum.
The occasion was St. Joseph’s Day and the annual Return of the Swallows celebration on March 19 — one
of many key events leading up to the mission’s upcoming 250th anniversary on Nov. 1. Gastelum prepared to ring the two larger bells — named San Vicente and San Juan after saints, and replicas of the ones seriously damaged in the earthquake of Dec. 8, 1812. He’s been ringing them for 45 years. His grandfather, the late town patriarch Paul Arviso, rang them for 65 years.
Banda took his place at the two smaller bells, which are original and named San Antonio and San Rafael. The two grabbed thick ropes and rang the bells for 90 seconds before a crowd. Minutes before the celebratory tones
rang out, Mechelle Lawrence Adams, executive director of the mission, explained their significance.
NATHAN BANDA, THE TRIBAL CHIEF FOR THE JUANEÑO BAND OF MISSION INDIANS, ACJACHEMEN NATION, AND AN OFFICIAL BELL RINGER AT MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, STANDS AT THE BELLS DURING THE ANNUAL ST. JOSEPH’S DAY AND RETURN OF THE SWALLOWS CELEBRATION ON MARCH 19. PHOTOS BY JEFF ANTENORE/DIOCESE OF ORANGE
“The bells are like a call to a homecoming,” she said. “They are a call to worship, to reflect, and during the Lenten season, a time to slow down.”
HE WON’T STOP
Both Banda and Gastelum are descendants of the Acjachemen tribe of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians,
who along with Catholic clerics and soldiers formed a working enterprise at the original mission, whose Great
Stone Church ruins and Serra Chapel remain.
Although most of the bell ringers dating back more than a century have been members of the Acjachemen tribe,
the only requirement is that they be baptized Catholics — since ringing the bells is a Catholic tradition. Although staff members ring the bells seven times each day when the mission opens at 9 a.m. to honor the legacy of founder St. Junípero Serra, only Banda and Gastelum can ring the bells on designated feast days, holidays and community celebrations such as the Feast of St. Joseph. It’s an honor both men don’t take for granted.
“I always think of the special people in my heart when I ring them,” said Banda, who recently began his four-year term as tribal chair after serving as secretary-treasurer and member at large for the Acjachemen Nation.
MARISSA MEDINE, AN EVENT ASSISTANT AT MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, RINGS THE MISSION BELLS, AS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE MISSION DOES EACH MORNING.
Banda also is a former tribal council member whose Acjachemen ancestors go back 11 generations. His three
daughters — Marisella, 24, Nevaeh, 15, and Nyiah, 8 — represent the 12th generation in the tribe’s only surviving lineage.
Gastelum can’t count how many times he’s rung the bells over the years and says he’ll ring them “until I’m dead.”
‘A TREMENDOUS SPIRIT’
Banda started as a receptionist in the mission’s administrative office in 2004, when he was 20. He had been working in a hardware store and raising his first daughter when Lawrence Adams hired him.
“Nate was so good and had a tremendous spirit even as a young man,” she recalled.
Banda was promoted to events manager before he left the mission to start his own events business. He was
working in human resources for an automotive agency until April 2025, when he turned his attention full-time
to tribal business.
Among Banda’s priorities as the new chief are getting the tribe recognized by the federal government (instead of just the state) and reclaiming the names of the tribe’s 265 recorded historic villages throughout Southern California. For example, Banda recently worked with the City of Dana Point to reclaim a rock formation in the shape of a chief’s profile at the Headlands as “Towóllawut (Guardian).”
I feel all my life experiences have prepared me for what I’m doing now,” Banda said. “I’m loving it and I’m able to
honor my ancestors.”
A SENSE OF RHYTHM
Banda has been ringing the mission bells for 13 years. Although he’s hardly a novice, “I still feel like I’m in training,” he said.
“It takes a sense of rhythm,” Gastelum said of the skill required in ringing the bells properly — celebratory
tones for special days like March 19, Patriots Day, Constitution Day, and, of course, Founder’s Day on Nov. 1.
Mission San Juan Capistrano is one of two California missions that celebrate 250th anniversaries this year, along with Mission San Francisco de Asís or Mission Dolores in San Francisco.
The Nov. 1, 1776, Mass celebrated by St. Junípero Serra marked the refounding of the mission, which had
been abandoned a year earlier after priests and troops were withdrawn in the wake of violence to the south in
San Diego.
So, how good of a job does Banda do ringing the bells?
“He’s still learning,” Gastelum said with a smile.
A list of upcoming events connected to the 250th celebration of the 1776 founding of the Mission San Juan Capistrano is available at www.missionsjc.com/250