San Juan Bautista, Calif. — An early morning beam of light streams though the open double doors and down the main aisle at Mission San Juan Bautista, illuminating the altar.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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San Juan Bautista, Calif. — Mission San Juan Bautista, where visitors and parishioners gathered for the winter solstice illumination.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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San Juan Bautista, Calif. — Sunlight reflects off a Mission San Juan Bautista window.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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San Juan Bautista, Calif. — Sunlight streams down the mission's 188-foot main aisle.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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San Juan Bautista, Calif. — Franciscan Brother Keith Warner walks through the beam of sunlight.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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San Juan Bautista, Calif. — The illumination dramatically lights one woman.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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San Juan Bautista, Calif. — Ruben Mendoza, an archaeologist at Cal State Monterey Bay, believes Franciscan architects carefully engineered the luminous event for the sun-worshiping local Indians they sought to convert.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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San Juan Bautista, Calif. — Visitors and parishioners wait for the illumination of the altar.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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San Juan Bautista, Calif. — The dawn's early light comes through the mission's windows before the illumination.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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San Juan Bautista, Calif. — Cal State Monterey Bay archaeology students Jewel Gentry and Jennifer Lucido, from left, observe the illumination.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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San Juan Bautista, Calif. — Chief Sonne Reyna of San Juan Bautista, left, and Elayne Reyna, center, chant and play instruments as they await the illumination.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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The crowd, including Native Americans, waits for the sun's rays to strike the church.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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A statue at the mission depicts a Native American reaching skyward.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times
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