North America’s oldest Christmas carol was composed by the Jesuit missionary St. Jean de Brébeuf, writing not in his native French but in the language of the Indigenous people he lived among from 1626 until his death in 1649.
Father de Brébeuf worked for years to understand the culture of the Wendat people — known to him as the Huron — in order to better share the Gospel with them. Not content with a basic grasp of their language, he analyzed its grammar and etymology and puzzled over catechetical difficulties caused by linguistic differences.
For example, he explained to his Jesuit superiors, the Sign of the Cross could not be translated exactly into Wendat because its relative nouns always included in their meaning a possessive pronoun: “They cannot say simply ‘father, son, master, servant,’ but are obliged to say ‘my father, your father, his father,'” he wrote. “On this account, it is impossible to say in their language: ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ Would you consider it fitting, while awaiting something better, to substitute instead: ‘In the name of our Father, and of his Son, and of their Holy Spirit’?”
Before his martyrdom — captured, tortured and killed with a group of Wendat by their enemy, the Iroquois — St. Jean de Brébeuf compiled a dictionary of Wendat words and translated a catechism into their language. He also wrote this joyful hymn, set to the tune of a French song, describing the Nativity and the Epiphany in words and images familiar to the Indigenous people he loved.
‘Iesus Ahattonnia’ in Wendat
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.
‘Iesus Ahattonnia’ in English
The Canadian writer Jesse Edgar Middleton penned an English version of the carol in 1926. Sometimes called “The Huron Carol” or “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime,” it is a loose adaptation rather than a translation. This more literal English translation was made by John Steckley, a Canadian anthropologist specializing in Native American languages:
Have courage, you who are humans; Jesus, he is born.
Behold, the spirit [demon] who had us as prisoners has fled.
Do not listen to it, as it corrupts the spirits of our minds.
Jesus, he is born.
They are spirits, sky people [angels], coming with a message for us.
They are coming to say, “Be on top of life [Rejoice],
Marie, she has just given birth. Rejoice!”
Jesus, he is born.
Three have left for such, those who are elders.
Tichion, a star that has just appeared on the horizon, leads them there.
He will seize the path, he who leads them there.
Jesus, he is born.
As they arrived there, where he was born, Jesus,
the star was at the point of stopping, not far past it.
Having found someone for them, he says, “Come here!”
Jesus, he is born.
Behold, they have arrived there and have seen Jesus,
They praised many times, saying “Hurray, he is good in nature.”
They greased his scalp many times [greeted him with reverence],
saying “Hurray.” Jesus, he is born.
“We will give to him praise for his name,
Let us show reverence for him as he comes to be compassionate to us.
It is providential that you love us and wish, ‘I should adopt them.'”
Jesus, he is born.
