Fri. 10 Dec. 2021
The Huron (Wendat) Carol
Olin Johannessen
This Sunday, December 12, marks our return to an in-person Service of Lessons & Carols, our first since 2019. Our Director of Music, Jennifer McPherson, and I have been planning and planning, and working so hard to prepare the Parish Choir and Choir School students for this most special musical evening, a night where St. John’s Church truly shines, maybe a little brighter than some other nights… A night the choir members are all eagerly awaiting and practicing for… A night steeped in tradition, and one that we are so very excited to spend with you all, whether in-person or virtually, whether near or far, especially after not being able to in 2020.
Jennifer and I began discussing the idea of incorporating some new anthems into the Parish Choir repertoire this year, generally speaking, back in August. One of the pieces we identified as being nice for Advent and Wintertime was an arrangement of “The Huron Carol,” with which I was unfamiliar at the time. Its haunting melodic and harmonic beauty and simplicity hooked me. I played it for Jennifer, and we both agreed to put it on “the maybe list.” Fast forward to mid-November, and as we were going over the list of “maybes,” and trying to move some into the “definitely” column of programming choices, we ordered it while also doing a deeper dive on the piece, more specifically, its text. It is here where we began to question the choice of this particular arrangement (not that its text or lyric was divergent from most other available arrangements out there). I began doing some searching around the internet about the carol’s traditional text, and came to an article written by Dana Lynn Seaborn, a Métis woman from western Canada, who had pointed out some serious cultural and historical flaws with the commonly used text of the carol. Additionally, Ms. Seaborn had actually written her own set of lyrics. We chose to jettison the already published arrangement and its text, and I committed to creating a new arrangement of the piece, using Ms. Seaborn’s lyric instead – with permission from her.
With open minds and hearts and due reverence for the fact that we are discussing the culture of the Wendat First Nation tribe of Eastern Canada, and with an awareness of the fact that we will be delving deeply into what is likely new material for many of us from a text and cultural standpoint, Jennifer and I present you with an abridged primer on The Huron (Wendat) Carol. Before you continue reading, I hope you will benefit from a reminder of the idea that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” an oft-repeated quote from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail." That quote gets tossed around a lot, I know, however it is worthwhile to remember that as Christians we are asked to not stand idly by while our neighbor is being mistreated, misrepresented, wrongfully accused, etc. The story that follows is one about trying to “get it right.” To make amends by correcting old mistakes, and atoning for the sins (whether committed with, or without, malicious intent) of our forebears.
If you have ever heard what is typically called "The Huron Carol” before, it is very likely that the lyrics you know/heard were written by a Canadian choir master named Jesse Edgar Middleton in 1926. They attempt to capture elements of Indigenous culture, however, his lyrics miss the mark in several ways, and through today’s lens come across as erroneous at best, but in truth as poorly-informed and racist. Middleton borrowed words from other Indigenous languages such as Cree (which is part of the Algonquian language family), where the Wendat language is from the Iroquoian language family. Iroquoian language was based in Eastern Canada, whereas Algonquian language was based more in Central Canada. So: wrong language. Additionally, he uses the phrase “Jesus, your King is born… In excelsis gloria” at the end of each stanza. This is nice, if you are Christian and all, however to represent an entire Indigenous people under the banner of Christianity is dangerous work, particularly because the arrival and presence of Jesuit missionaries presented several problems to the Wendat, not the least of which was a more-than-significant decimation of their population through smallpox and other such illnesses that Westerners were previously (at least partially) inoculated against, and less susceptible to the more extreme effects.
The original text of the carol was penned by a Jesuit missionary named Jean de Brébeauf, who came to Wendake (the territory occupied by the Hurons, who refer to themselves as “Wendat”) in 1626, and was originally written in the Wendat language. A modern translation has been endeavored (according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s “Indigenous Original Voices" series, Wendat had been a dormant language since the second half of the 19th C.), and is included in the complete version of my draft paper, which is linked below. Musically speaking, the tune of the carol has mostly remained the same, and is based on a 16th C. French folk song called “Une Jeune Pucelle,” or “A young maid.”
As we live in a time of Reconciliation (noun: the act of restoring friendly relations; the act of bringing one viewpoint into harmony with another), a modern day Métis woman (the Métis are one of three officially recognized groups of Indigenous Canadians) named Dana Lynn Seaborn has created a new text for this piece; one which acknowledges and accurately depicts the Wendat Creation Story, and also reflects similarities between the forced colonization and conversion of Indigenous peoples to Christianity, and the Roman Empire’s rule over Judea (and much of the rest of the world). In this reworked text we find honor, both in learning the truth about the Wendat, and also in participating in the propagation and promulgation of correcting a long- and oft-repeated historical inaccuracy in the misrepresentation of Wendat history and culture. It is worth noting, also, that Ms. Seaborn’s lyric features three verses which accurately tell the Wendat Creation Story (it’s beautiful – read about it in my attached draft paper), but also two verses which were added later. In her words, “I wrote the first 3 verses, then, when a Christian complained, I added the last 2. Something for everyone.”
I say it’s worth noting because here we have an Indigenous person, taking the time to create a more authentic text that honors the true Creation Story of the Wendat First Nation tribe, and still is called into question by someone from outside of that, and her culture, and she reacts by acquiescence. When in your life have you had to bend and shift your story to fit someone else’s cultural expectations or norms? If you are like me, perhaps you can’t easily think of a time when you felt “othered,” as though your experience wasn’t simply the default, the expectation, the “norm.” I spoke with a friend recently about the question “Why shouldn’t we call it simply ‘The Wendat Carol,’ if that is the name that the Wendat people use to refer to themselves?” He said to me, and I’m paraphrasing, that it is not up to us, people from outside this culture, to make choices for anyone within this culture about how they should, or should not, refer to themselves. The choice to use the title “The Huron (Wendat) Carol” is as simple as respecting that this is the choice that the author made when penning these new lyrics, yes, but also about acknowledging the fact that I have no place in the titling of this work, only in representing it as authentically as I am able, given the work I’ve spent in researching and communicating with Ms. Seaborn, the author.
I know that many of you may not have time to read the attached draft of a paper I’ve been writing (even at 13 pages, I believe it’s not finished yet), but I hope that you will make an attempt, particularly if you feel curious or driven. I included a Table of Contents so you can find your way around it as you see fit. There are many valuable and informative sources used and credited in the paper.
Jennifer and I both know and recognize the weighty importance of having as full a historical and cultural understanding of this work we are attempting as possible, and that is why we wanted to share this context with you prior to Sunday’s Lessons & Carols service. We hope to see you there!