Seventeenth century doors

The doors at Casa María or the Hacienda El Catanito legend
The seventeenth century doors that embellish our house are of an indeterminate, if not rather obscure, origin. Most of them were restored briefly after their discovery in the warehouse of an important livestock company. When researching their origin, we only found a legend, with no evidence to prove it, which we reproduce exactly as it was told by a person who declares it to be the true story, passed orally from generation to generation.
The story tells that nearing the year of the Lord 1560, don Juan Magín Puig Llano, then a young landowner around 20 years old, who had arrived some months before from Catalonya, acquired a vast amount of land at the outskirts of the recently founded Villa de San Miguel el Grande, where he built a textile mill with many shortcomings. At the turn of the century, nearing the year of the Lord 1610, with the vigour of his young first-born and Purepechan and Otomi workforce, don Juan M. Puig built a new hacienda, for which he hired the best masons of the region and the most skilled craftsmen to carve the doors. The hacienda might have been built near Palmar de Vega, a small fort near Mineral de Pozos, in order to resist the still frequent Chichimecan attacks.

Legend has it that the craftsmen worked with such devotion and mastery to carve the doors and windows, and achieved such magnificent results, that don Juan M. Puig, contrary to custom, paid generously for the beautiful work with recently minted Zacatecan silver coins. In return, the Purepechan shaman used ancient rituals to protect the doors and windows, ensuring they would live longer than the hacienda’s large stone walls. Others, however, maintain that it is the blessings of Gonzalo de Tapia, first Jesuit missionary martyr in Mexico, that protect this wood 1.
Don Juan, known as el catalán, left not only his hacienda, but also his nickname, to his son. The latter came to be known as el catalanito, which changed into el catanito, by which name he and his hacienda are known today.
The location of the Hacienda El Catanito, as well as its disappearance, which might have been caused by one of the last Chichimecan raids, remain a mystery. Nevertheless, the legend still lives in these doors, glory of their carvers. If this story is true, some of these ancient doors, guarded by age-old indigenous incantations or the holy hands of a martyr, will also guard the visitors of Casa María, beyond its stone walls.

1 According to the chronicles, Gonzalo de Tapia was sent to the region around 1588.