grav_ity: (christmas3)
gravity.not.included ([personal profile] grav_ity) wrote2010-12-06 09:20 pm

This one might need some explaining...

This is a sad story.

Once upon a time there was a native tribe in Canada who called themselves Wyandot. The Iroquoians called them Wendat. The French settlers thought that their hairstyle was reminiscent of a boar's bristles, hure, and called them the Huron Indians. Lake Huron, and the county I grew up in, is named for them.

The Wendat had the misfortune of getting caught on the wrong side of European Imperialism. The Jesuits corralled them, basically, most famously at St. Marie-Among-The-Hurons, which is north of Toronto, and attempted to convert them to Catholicism. About half converted. Smallpox crept into the camp, killing both Christian and non-Christians alike.

And then the English decided they'd rather have the Iroquois than a native group with French support, so they strongly encouraged the Iroquois to take them out. The Iroquois obliged them, wiping out entire settlements and showing mercy to none. North America has eight Catholic martyrs, and all of them are the Jesuits who were tortured. The Wendat were dispersed, the language nearly obliterated, and the culture shoved into such strange places as Oklahoma.

But there's a song.

Brébeuf wrote it in the Wendat language. He was the first (and probably only) European to master it fully. It was translated into French and English over the years. This version has different English lyrics than usual, but it's Heather Dale which only makes it more amazing.



Jesus your king is born, Jésu est né. Jesous Ahatonhia

This is Canada. Our beginnings. Our cultures. Our epic, epic failures. Our chance.


(um, if someone would rip that for me, I'd be eternally grateful)


ETA: Here is the album ([livejournal.com profile] sache8), if anyone ([livejournal.com profile] sache8) wants to have a gander ([livejournal.com profile] sache8).

[identity profile] emmy-roo.livejournal.com 2010-12-07 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
You just made my day. Thank you so much. I don't know you but I love you.

[identity profile] lone-pyramid.livejournal.com 2010-12-07 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Random love makes me gleeful. :D

(There's this free program called Any Video Converter. You can d/l stuff from YouTube, and -- as the name suggests -- convert from one file type to another.)

[identity profile] emmy-roo.livejournal.com 2010-12-07 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
You may have just revolutionized my whole life.

[identity profile] lone-pyramid.livejournal.com 2010-12-07 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Merry Christmas? (Or whatever timely celebration you may observe.)

[identity profile] emmy-roo.livejournal.com 2010-12-08 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
I'm down with Christmas! Right now, though, it's all about Advent and Chanukah.

[identity profile] lone-pyramid.livejournal.com 2010-12-08 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
Happy Chanukah then! (As I am way unreligious, 'Advent' to me really just means 'advent calendar' which means chocolate. Thus, happy chocolate*!)

*no offense meant, of course. :) I am all for celebrate whatever the heck you want, as long as it doesn't hurt others.

[identity profile] emmy-roo.livejournal.com 2010-12-08 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
Haha, no offense taken! I'm a deeply religious Christian (Catholic-leaning in my theology and approach to social justice, but liberal-Protestant in my views about church management) and my parents raised me with the knowledge and celebration that Jesus was a well-educated and pious Jew. So we often celebrated Jewish holidays. I lived on the south side of Chicago for the first nine years of my life, attended summer camp with all my friends at the local JCC, and went to Akiba Schechter day school as a young child, where my parents were so careful and respectful that my sister and I were by far the most kosher children there! I would very much like to raise my children celebrating other religions holidays, because I believe that most religions have more in common than they do separating them.

[identity profile] lone-pyramid.livejournal.com 2010-12-08 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Sounds like your parents had good heads on their shoulders. :)

I love to meet people who believe but who are not all, Thou shalt believe what I believe or go to hell! We were never raised with any particular religious beliefs so I've sort of cobbled together my own belief system, but as I said, I'm all for people believing in whatever they want as long as it doesn't cause harm to others... or try to force your beliefs on others. I get wanting to share all that is good and wanting people to live the best they can, but if someone doesn't agree, well, that doesn't interfere with your beliefs, does it? Live and let live, and all. :)

Heh. From Any Video Converter to a discussion about religion. You can find it all on LJ!