Earlier Swallows Day Observance Not Going Down Well

A flap over changing the date for this year’s Swallows Day celebration has spread far beyond tradition-rich San Juan Capistrano.

The uproar has now winged its way clear across the country to the mighty publishing houses of New York City.

Mission San Juan Capistrano officials apparently neglected to forewarn the publishers of thousands, make that millions, of tour books sold around the world that they have broken with tradition, and will celebrate the swallows’ annual migratory return from South America on March 16 this year, instead of St. Joseph’s Day, March 19, as it has for decades.

As a result, the freshly printed “Frommer’s California ‘96,” out on bookshelves just this month, notes that “According to legend, the birds wing their way back to the mission annually on March 19, St. Joseph’s Day, arriving at dawn.”

A similar note appears in the Baedeker’s guides--the country’s oldest tour book--and the American Express travel guides, said Mike Spring of McMillan Travel, a division of Simon & Schuster, which publishes all three books.

“This is a little hard to swallow,” quipped the good-natured Spring from New York. He could not even begin to estimate how many books contain the now outdated information.

“We also publish guides to Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, and the March 19 date is in all of them,” Spring said.

The new date was also unreported by the Automobile Club of Southern California, one of the nation’s largest publishers of tourism information. Out this month is the AAA Tour Book for California and Nevada and, yes, the March 19 date is listed there too.

“We have 37 million triple-A members nationally. This book could get in the hands of all of them,” said an astonished Layna Browdy, director of corporate communications for the club, the largest AAA division in the nation.

“What are they going to do next, change Groundhog Day on us?” quipped Browdy, who lives in Irvine.

The commemoration of Swallows Day dates back to the early days of the 219-year-old mission. As the legend goes, the Franciscan missionaries noted that the swallows’ arrival coincided each year with the feast of St. Joseph, held on March 19.

Mission officials say they decided to move the Swallows Day observances this year from March 19--a Tuesday--to March 16, a Saturday, to make the event more accessible to families.

An estimated 20,000 people turned up for Swallows Day last year, when the event fell on a Sunday, while attendance often dwindles to about 5,000 when March 19 is a weekday, officials said.

This year for the first time, the ringing of the mission bells that marks the return of the swallows will occur on the morning of March 16, kicking off a full day of activities. The Swallows Day Parade, now in its 38th year, is not affected by the change, and will be held March 23, the first Saturday following Swallows Day.

The change of date has sparked a furor in this small, centuries-old town where tradition is held sacred. Earlier this week, the San Juan Capistrano Cultural and Heritage Commission decided to appeal to the City Council for help in returning the event to St. Joseph’s Day.

“I feel very strongly about this,” said Don Tryon, a commissioner who is also a member of the city’s historical society. “I want to restore it to March 19. It’s a city tradition I think we should maintain.”

Jim Graves, a mission spokesman, said that as a result of the furor over the change of date the bell-ringing ceremony will be held on both March 16 and 19.

“We will have a larger celebration on March 16 and a smaller one on March 19,” Graves said. “It’s kind of like having a party before the event.”