Huron Carol

[1] Brébeuf wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron/Wendat people; the song's original Huron title is "Jesous Ahatonhia" ("Jesus, he is born").

The English version of the hymn uses imagery familiar in the early 20th century, in place of the traditional Nativity story.

In the English version, Jesus is born in a "lodge of broken bark" and wrapped in a "robe of rabbit skin".

He is surrounded by hunters instead of shepherds, and the Magi are portrayed as "chiefs from afar" who bring him "fox and beaver pelts" instead of the more familiar gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The English translation uses a traditional Algonquian name, Gitchi Manitou, for God, which is not in the original Wyandot version.

The original lyrics are now sometimes modified to use imagery accessible to Christians who are not familiar with the cultures of Canada's First Peoples.

A haunting choral arrangement by R. Anderson was included on the 1997 album The Mystery of Christmas, by the Canadian group the Elora Festival Singers.

A new recording with a very mystical setting of the Huron Carol was released in 2011 performed by The Canadian Tenors.

In 2002, Heather Dale released a trilingual version (Wendat [Huron], French, English) on her This Endris Night album, updated in 2017 as a YouTube video with an American Sign Language translation.

[3][non-primary source needed] Sarah McLachlan recorded the song on her 2016 holiday album, Wonderland, released on the October 21, 2016.

'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 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 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.