The Huron Carol--with gifts of fox and beaver pelt

I came across this hymn in a collection of Christmas carols during my morning meditation today. Better known in Canada, but I'd not heard it before. It's quite charming. No matter the language or ethnicity, all can know the baby Jesus in their own culture. The explanation is from the UMC Hymn history website. Discipleship Ministries | History of Hymns: “'Twas in the Moon of… (umcdiscipleship.org)  Take time to look at why Mennonites don't think it's good enough to be in their hymnal.

‘Twas in the moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled
That mighty Gitchi Manitou* sent angel choirs instead;
Before their light the stars grew dim and wondering hunters 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 enwrapped 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.

The earliest moon of wintertime is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory on the helpless infant there.
The chiefs from far before him knelt with gifts of fox and beaver pelt.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

O children of the forest free, O seed 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.

*That God of all the earth

"This is probably the earliest Christmas carol composed in North America. “‘Twas in the moon of wintertime” is a collaborative work between a 17th-century French Jesuit missionary to the Huron Indians and a 20th-century Canadian newspaper correspondent in Quebec.

Jean de Brébeuf (1593-1649) was born in the Normandy region of France. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1617 and arrived in Quebec in 1625. Overcoming many obstacles, he spent the first long winter in a wigwam and set out in spring by canoe to Lake Huron, where he was left to minister alone after a fellow priest was recalled.

His early efforts in evangelism were unsuccessful. Life was also complicated because the English and French were at war over this region, with the territory changing hands twice. He was forced to return to France in 1629, and then returned when the French again gained the upper hand in 1633. He set out again for the Huron region with a fellow priest, and lived and worked among the Indians for 16 years.

Brébeuf suffered hardships unimaginable to most present-day missionaries. In 1642, he was caught up in a war between the Iroquois and Huron tribes. Two fellow missionaries had been captured and killed. Brébeuf was sent to the region to attempt further contact with the Huron people. Though the Iroquois had made peace with the French, they continued to fight the Huron tribe.

Between 1644 and 1647, Brébeuf’s ministry among the Huron people saw thousands baptized and following the way of the black-robed priests. But the war with the Iroquois intensified. Being French, he could have escaped, but chose to remain with the Huron people. Brébeuf was captured by the Iroquois on March 16, 1649.

The original Huron carol was written around 1643. Over 150 years later in 1794, Father de Villeneuve, also a Jesuit missionary, wrote down the words to “Jesous Ahatonhia” as he heard them. Paul Picard, an Indian notary, translated them into French and they first appeared in written form in Ernest Myrand’s Noel Anciens de la Nouvelle France (1899).

Hugh McKellar, a leading Canadian hymnologist and authority on indigenous song, says that Brébeuf “does not present Christ’s birth as an event which happened far away and long ago, nor does he linger on its details; what matters for him is the immediacy of the Incarnation and the difference it can make in the lives not just of the Huron, but of believers in any culture.”

Collaborator Jesse Edgar Middleton (1872-1960) was a reporter for the Montreal Herald and later The Mail and Empire in Toronto. His interest in Ontario history led him to the story of Jean de Brébeuf.

Carlton Young, editor of the UM Hymnal, notes that “Middleton’s poem extends beyond the original French [translation] and tells the story of Jesus’ birth into Huron everyday life and its retelling in their folk symbols, such as ‘rabbit skin’ for ‘swaddling clothes’ and ‘gifts of fox and beaver pelt’ for the Magi’s present.” Middleton’s version maintains the Algonquian name for God, Gitchi Manitou.

Middleton’s poem was set to a traditional French tune (“Une Jeune Pucelle”) and appeared on Dec. 22, 1926, in the New Outlook, where it was romanticized as a “charming little Christmas song... [in which] the devoted missionary has adapted the story of the infant Christ to the minds of the Indian children.”

Hugh McKellar calls the carol an “interpretation... not a translation, written to provide English-speaking Canadians with an opportunity to sing the first Christmas carol ever heard in the Province of Ontario.”

The carol comes to us by way of the Canadian Anglican Church’s Hymn Book (1938), edited by the famous 20th-century Canadian composer Healey Willan. Walter Ehret brought the carol to public schools and churches in the U.S. with The International Book of Christmas Carols (1936).

In whatever form we receive the carol, it is an artifact of a missionary who through incomprehensible hardships and danger spread the gospel to the Huron people. Brébeuf’s martyrdom with a fellow Jesuit in 1649, too gruesome to describe here, was recognized by the Catholic Church when he was canonized on June 29, 1930, by Pope Pius XI. The humble Jesuit priest to New France is now the patron saint of Canada."

Also this link: ‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime – Wyandotte Nation (wyandotte-nation.org)

For guitar: The Huron Carol / Twas In The Moon of Wintertime Guitar Tab / Sheet Music + Chords Easy (weebly.com)

YouTube: https://youtu.be/cx0NuuyB6h4

Why the Mennonites did not include it in the newest hymn collection (not pure enough) “’Twas in the moon of wintertime” not included in new Mennonite hymnal | Canadian Mennonite Magazine

A literal translation: The Huron Carol - Iesous Ahatonnia (wyandot.org)

Hutterites from Canada looking for roots in Ukraine

Interesting story of a group of Hutterites from Canada who go to Russia to display their hog equipment for sale and then go on the Ukraine (Hutterthal and Johannesruh) to look for their roots.  German Mennonites were moved to Ukraine in the 18th century because they were such good farmers, always keeping their language (Plattdeutsch), which caused them a lot of discrimination during WWI and WWII.  Many fled to U.S., Canada and South America.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k3ga8jbmuA

The milking scenes are interesting—the women just go into the field, the cows are not restrained. Then deliver it.

Gorgeous scenes of farms and villages in Ukraine (2007).  Wonder what is happening there now?

Some history of the Hutterites and Jacob Hutter. How Lutherans became Hutterites after being banished for not converting to Catholicism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERBHXGUkcXM

                  

Volga Germans--The Mennonites

One of the languages of the German Mennonites of Russia is Plattdeutsch, also called Low-German . I first came across this story reading the Wycliffe Bible translators page about translating scripture for Germans from Kazakhstan resettled in Germany, who didn't know German. Most of us scattered around the world who have German roots trace back to pre-Germany days--i.e. there was no country known as Germany when my ancestors arrived in the United States. In fact, there was no United States in the 1720s, and they'd all pledged loyalty to the King of England. My Mennonite roots go back to Hannah, the brave widow of Hans Wenger, a weaver of Bern, Switzerland, who with the help of friends and family, emigrated to American for religious freedom in 1749.

Here is an account of the wanderings of the Mennonites who ended up in Russia. "The Mennonites occupy a special place among the Germans [of Siberia]. When the Mennonites left the Netherlands in the sixteenth century and resettled in Prussia, they did not see themselves as sharing a common origin. Among them were people of Flemish, Dutch, Frisian, and Lower Saxon ancestry. Two basic types of speech had been maintained by the Mennonites— molochnenskii and khortintskii. However, they took as a common language a Low German dialect (Plattdeutsch). As a result of their religious isolation, the Mennonites did not mix with the local peoples and thus maintained their traditional customs. At times they joined their different confessional groups into one ethno confessional unit. During and since the resettlement the Mennonites have been officially registered as Germans; most scholars think of the Mennonites as Germans. The Siberian Mennonites themselves trace their ancestry to Germans, although they also emphasize their Dutch origins."

Siberian Mennonites extend welcome to visiting Americans


Freedom has done what the Soviet Communists couldn't: "In the Germanic language family, Plautdiitsch claims a special place. Its long isolation from other German dialects and its close contacts have given it a specific character, which to some extent can be compared to that of Yiddish. The Plautdiitsch language, the sole descendant from the many West Prussian Low German dialects once spoken in the Weichsel delta area, is now spoken by Mennonites in many countries and has partly taken over the religious factor as the main identity marker. It is a pity that a language, that managed to survive centuries of isolation and many years of prohibiti­on, should now disappear where it has long had its most speakers - in Siberia. The increasing emigration to Germa­ny has left many Mennonite villages russified more than decades of Soviet Russification policy could accomplish. The Plautdiitsch speakers who choose to stay find it more and more difficult to provide their children with a Plautdi­itsch speaking environment, and in the long run it must be feared the language will lose much ground to Russian. In Germany, the children of Russian Mennonite immigrants will almost certainly only have passive knowledge of Plautdi­itsch.

One can only hope the language will survive in North America and in the isolated colonies in South America, where a revival can be observed." From the article "Plautdietsch, a Germanic language related to Dutch and Frisian, spoken in Siberia"

Canada has a Plattdeutsch radio station. You can listen here--pod cast. I listened to a poem in Plattdeutsch from Russia, and the rhythm was definitely Russian/Slavic; this sounds English.

Letter to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)

Arli Klassen
MCC Executive Director

Dear Ms. Klassen,

Today I received the Spring 2010 "A Common Place," featuring stories about microfinance in Cambodia and the earthquake in Haiti.

MCC's primary concern seems to be the material and political well-being of the people you're assisting with small loans, food aid, and "peace and justice" for immigrants. In the several years I've been receiving this publication (I sent a donation after the Tsunami which put me on your mailing list) I've seen very little about reaching anyone for Christ. Yes, you donate food and material goods, but if you tell them the Good News of the cross and resurrection it isn't reported. They are clearly Jesus for you (Matt. 25), but who is going to tell them so they have what you have? Is Jesus a secret? After the homes are built, the wells dug, the forests replanted and the schools staffed, then will you tell them? Or are they just supposed to figure it out?

In fact, the only spiritual part of the Spring issue is the story about the amazing faith of the Haitians.

"Earthquake survivors living in a camp in my neighborhood gather every evening to pray and worship--singing praises such as "God blessed us. He saved us," and asking, "God, don't leave us outside, give us homes." People shared testimonies of how they or their loved ones were trapped and rescued from under their homes. "When the earth shakes, Jesus is near us and we don't need to be afraid," my friend Emmanuel Michel preaches." [from article and photos by Ben Depp]

Over 30 years ago at Ohio State University I worked in a program sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development that did exactly what you describe in your small loan program. USAID didn't tell them about Jesus, although it did work with missionaries, nor would I have expected it. You folks, however, have a "great commission" to do so.

No preconditions for the tea party with Ahmadinejad

And we’re not talking about misinformation passed out by Joe Biden at last week's debate, either. No, it's the religious Left (and some not so religious, and a few not so Left). The Christians, of course, were simply following their community organizer's command some 2000 years ago to "Go therefore and eat together and hold a dialogue, but forget about worshiping me and baptizing them; just use your own plan."

“In a fourth encounter over two years, American church officials shared an Iftar meal with the visiting Iranian president on September 28 in New York City. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier in the day had delivered his usual rant against Israel and the United States at the United Nations. But hosting religious officials, anxious for dialogue, were undeterred. Nor were they were intimidated by boisterous demonstrators outside their Manhattan hotel, where some placards demanded: "No Feast with the Beast."

Who’s responsible for this travesty?

The Mennonite Central Committee, the Americans Friends Service Committee (Quakers), the World Council of Churches' UN Liaison Office and Religions for Peace. About 300 religious representatives attended, mostly American church officials, but also including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, leftist Jewish Renewal movement chief Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, a Zoroastrian priest, and former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik, a Lutheran minister.” . . .“The other denominations that sent representatives to the Iftar dinner included the United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), all of which, along with the UCC, have recently rejected anti-Israel divestment initiatives, thanks partly to appeals from American Jews.”

The National Council of Churches, in an unusually wise move for a left of center Christian group, boycotted the party for Amadinejad due to his hateful language, behavior, and screwed up views of history.

Then there was the usual, naive woman asking questions later.

“United Methodist Women's chief Harriett Jane Olson told Reuters afterwards that she wished Ahmadinejad had talked about "practical issues" such as the treatment of women and children in Iran instead of abstract theology."

Story at Weekly Standard.

The MCC Mailing list

It's a lot easier getting on a mailing list than getting off. After the Tsunami, I sent relief money to the Mennonites, people I figured could be trusted to run a program economically and see that it got to the places that needed it most. Years ago I'd done some research and they seemed to have the lowest overhead, with the most dollars going to the neediest. Later, I found out that their money was co-mingled with a larger church organization, one that never presents Christ as an alternative. Forget rice-Christians! There'd be no Christian propaganda handed out with their food and blankets.

But the Common Place magazine, a bi-monthly that reports on the activities of the Mennonite Central Committee, sponsored by Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churchs in Canada and the USA, just keeps coming. I suppose I could e-mail them and ask to be taken off the list--after all, I want my funds to go to people who will preach, not just demonstrate, the good news of Jesus.

The latest issue reports that MCC is planning to grow its educational sponsorship program from $1.5 million a year to $5 million a year by 2017. Why? To help "children develop a sense of identity and history and thereby enables them to engage the stories and histories of others." Isn't that odd? Not so they can earn a living, or enjoy good literature, or read the instructions on their medicine, or read the Bible, but so that can "engage the stories and histories of others." Then further gooble-de-gook--education will enable children to "uncover the questions" and will happen "where love and curiosity are present." Huh?

From that, he's on to educating girls because they stay in the community and become leaders. I worked in the agriculture library in the 1970s on a government grant and the U.S. AID believed the same thing, so they were focusing small credit grants and water projects on the women, who were the farmers and gatherers. The men just waged war, hunted and watched the women work. I'm not sure what happened to those Department of State programs I helped with 30 years ago, but Africa is still terribly poor and the only countries moving ahead are those that have been able to attract investment and create stable governments, avoiding hand-outs.

Maybe the Mennonites have another magazine for the U.S., but I didn't see a single story here about the United States. I guess we've got poverty licked with all our government programs (actually, that's close to the truth). This issue includes Yasir and Kawthar Abed in northern Iraq; Amira Slawa whose father was slain by Iraqi police in 1987; Puja Rana in Kolkata, India; Priya Bhadani and her family in Kolkata, displaced 15 years ago; Ayesha Kader who works in an MCC office in Kolkata; Ismael Ramiro Cucul Rax of Guatemala who is in a Saturday school sponsored by MCC; and then shorter blurbs about school kits, puppets, scholarships, Hurricane Felix relief, farmers in Zimbabwe, ex-offenders in Saskatoon, suffering in Colombia because of a local war, helping children in North Korea with food shipments (note: the Communist government of N. Korea has killed millions of its own citizens by starvation, and now western countries and Christian programs are bailing them out); a garage sale in Winnepeg to pay for scholarships for children in India; and a Mennonite living in a seminary owned by the Chaldean Church in Iraq.

According to Matt 25, these people are Jesus, and so it is a wonderful privilege to serve Him (them). But then who will be Jesus for them? The Beatitudes are not a list of rules and guidelines for Christians to follow concerning the poor and down trodden. They are an announcement, based on the OT book of Isaiah, of who Jesus is. I didn't see a word about Jesus Christ in the entire issue.

How to tell a real peacemaker

Check out their beliefs. Statement on the War in Iraq by the Mennonites (Mennonite Church USA), at the Global Anabaptist Encyclopedia On-line. Also useful for doing some genealogy searches if you have Mennonites in your family tree.

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Bluffton University Tragedy

Last night I watched CBS News (Couric) which I rarely do (please, someone have a heart and move her back to her comfort zone) because I wanted to see an update on the bus tragedy that killed and injured so many Ohio young people. I wasn't terribly familiar with this school near Toledo, and knew little about it. Then I switched to Fox News and saw a totally different report. Yes, they talked about the tragedy, the family, had interviews, etc., but featured the information that Bluffton was a school affiliated with the Mennonite Church. Fox even had footage of the prayer vigil, held BEFORE the team left. Then I realized that often when I request books of a religious nature (not available at my public library because they don't collect in that area, or Ohio State University) they usually come from either Bluffton or Ashland, a Brethren college and seminary.

Almost all colleges in the U.S. founded in the 18th and 19th century were established by Christians. Some long ago left their roots and rootedness, like Harvard and Yale, and some keep the flavor and tone of the denomination with trustee appointments, faculty statements, contributions from churches, but only enroll about 20% of the faithful among their students. This includes Bluffton, Ashland, Wittenburg and Capital(Lutheran). The Columbus Dispatch reported that after the accident phone trees for the 75 Mennonite churches that make of the 11,000 membership of the Ohio Conference of Mennonite Church USA went into action for a prayer line.

I'm not sure why CBS skipped it (or possibly I was out of the room), or why Fox included it. Sure sounds like one was a bit more fair and balanced than the other.