Winter Song

Noel

Indian Nativity

In 1642 the Jesuit Missionary Jean de Brebeuf at St. Marie Among the Hurons. Brebeuf had been a missionary among the Hurons for a few years by then and had mastered the language so he wrote a hymn in Huron for his new converts. The music he used was an old French folk tune Une Jeune Pucelle.1

Brebeuf and his brethern’s efforts to missionize among the Hurons did prove to be extremely disruptive to Huron society.2 Also the resulting disease epidemics and social dislocation did not help matters. To say nothing of the war with the Iroquois Confederacy. In 1648 – 1650 a series of devastating Iroquois attacks destroyed the Huron nation and dispersed its survivors over a wide area. Brebeuf and his missionary colleagues were captured and tortured to death by the victorious Iroquois.3

The lyrics blend traditional Christian motifs with Huron ideas. The version popular today has only a loose association to the original in terms of meaning.

Here is the Huron original:

Ehstehn yayau deh tsaun we yisus ahattonnia

O na wateh wado:kwi nonnwa 'ndasqua entai

ehnau sherskwa trivota nonnwa 'ndi yaun rashata

Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Ayoki onki hm-ashe eran yayeh raunnaun

yauntaun kanntatya hm-deh 'ndyaun sehnsatoa ronnyaun

Waria hnawakweh tond Yosehf sataunn haronnyaun

Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Asheh kaunnta horraskwa deh ha tirri gwames

Tishyaun ayau ha'ndeh ta aun hwa ashya a ha trreh

aundata:kwa Tishyaun yayaun yaun n-dehta

Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Dau yishyeh sta atyaun errdautau 'ndi Yisus

avwa tateh dn-deh Tishyaun stanshi teya wennyau

aha yaunna torrehntehn yataun katsyaun skehnn

Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Eyeh kwata tehnaunnte aheh kwashyehn ayehn

kiyeh kwanaun aukwayaun dehtsaun we 'ndeh adeh

tarrya diskwann aunkwe yishyehr eya ke naun sta

Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.4

A translation of the above:

Have courage, you who are human beings: Jesus, he is born

The okie spirit who enslaved us has fled

Don't listen to him for he corrupts the spirits of our thoughts

Jesus, he is born

The okie spirits who live in the sky are coming with a message

They're coming to say, "Rejoice!

Mary has given birth. Rejoice!"

Jesus, he is born

Three men of great authority have left for the place of his birth

Tiscient, the star appearing over the horizon leads them there

That star will walk first on the bath to guide them

Jesus, he is born

The star stopped not far from where Jesus was born

Having found the place it said,

"Come this way"

Jesus, he is born

As they entered and saw Jesus they praised his name

They oiled his scalp many times, anointing his head

with the oil of the sunflower

Jesus, he is born

They say, "Let us place his name in a position of honour

Let us act reverently towards him for he comes to show us mercy

It is the will of the spirits that you love us, Jesus,

and we wish that we may be adopted into your family

Jesus, he is born5

The more commonly known lyrics were written by Jesse Edgar Middleton in 1926 go has follows:

'Twas in the moon of winter-time

When all the birds had fled,

That mighty Gitchi Manitou

Sent angel choirs instead;

Before their light the stars grew dim,

And wandering hunter heard the hymn:

"Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,

In excelsis gloria."

Within a lodge of broken bark

The tender Babe was found,

A ragged robe of rabbit skin

Enwrapp'd His beauty round;

But as the hunter braves drew nigh,

The angel song rang loud and high...

"Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,

In excelsis gloria."

O children of the forest free,

O sons of Manitou,

The Holy Child of earth and heaven

Is born today for you.

Come kneel before the radiant Boy

Who brings you beauty, peace and joy.

"Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,

In excelsis gloria."6

Aside from being longer the original version is quite different from the version we know today. Still it is a simple song of great beauty. 

Here is Bruce Cockburn doing the original song.

1. Huron Carol, Wikipedia Here.

2. Trigger, Bruce G., Children of Attaentsic, McGill-Queens University Press, Kingston ON, 1976, pp. 498-602, Natives and Newcomers, McGill-Queens University Press, Kingston ON, 1986, pp. 251-259.

3. Trigger, 1976, pp. 751-788, 1986, pp. 259-273.

4. Huron Carol, The Cockburn Project Here.

5. IBID.

6. Huron Carol.

Pierre Cloutier