Jesus Ahatonhia!

(First of three stamps issued in 1977, illustrated
by Ronald White, celebrating the Huron Carol —
an angel appears in the Northern Lights to three
Huron hunters.)


(The three Indian hunters follow the light.)


(They find the infant Jesus at a Huron lodge.)

Merry Christmas, Dear Readers.

The Huron Carol was composed by Father Jean de Brébeuf in 1643, a French Jesuit missionary who lived and worked among the Huron Indians in what is now Ontario. He wrote it in their language and set it to a sixteenth-century melody, Une Jeunne Pucelle (A Young Maid).

On her album This Endris Night, Canadian singer Heather Dale sings a tri-lingual version of this carol, in Huron, French, and English. The English lyrics she sings are by H. Kierans, a translation closer to the original Huron than the much better-known words, reprinted below, by J. E. Middleton.

To listen to her performance, click on the link (you may have to cut and paste):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6IG6F6E5Ac

JESUS AHATONHIA! JESUS IS BORN!

’Twas in the moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled,
That Mighty Gitchi Manitou¹ sent angel choirs instead.
Before their light the stars grew dim, and wand’ring hunters heard the hymn:
Jesus, your King, is born;
Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria!²

Within a lodge of broken bark the tender Babe was found,
A ragged robe of rabbit skin enwrapped His beauty round.
And as the hunter braves drew nigh, the angels’ song rang loud and high:
Jesus, your King, is born;
Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria!

The earliest moon of winter is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory on the helpless infant there.
And 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 sons of Manitou,
The Holy Child of earth and heav’n 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!

~ Jean de Brébeuf, S.J. (1593-1649)

¹ Gitchi Manitou — “Great Spirit” in Algonquin
² In excelsis gloria! — “Glory in the highest!” in Latin

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Evolution

(Official Program - Woman Suffrage Procession, or parade, in Washington on March 13, 1913, by American artist Benjamin Dale; inspired by many images of the medieval woman warrior Joan of Arc, 1412?-1431, going into battle on her steed)

American women finally won the right to vote in all elections when Congress ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution ninety years ago next month, on August 18, 1920.

The first legal vote cast by a woman had taken place in 1756, under British rule, but it was an anomaly. That year, in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, the town’s wealthiest landlord and taxpayer died. Captain Josiah Taft left no male heirs of adult age. Mindful of the principle of “no taxation without representation” and facing the important question of support for the French and Indian Wars, the open town meeting allowed his widow, Lydia Chapin Taft, to vote on behalf of the estate.

In the years following, the women’s cause moved slowly, step by step. Some jurisdictions allowed women to vote in limited local elections. Others would grant them suffrage, only to rescind it later.

The women persevered. As they spoke out for the abolition of slavery, so too did they argue for women’s suffrage.

One of the “most unique and interesting speeches” of the Women’s Convention held in Akron, Ohio, in 1851, was made by Sojourner Truth, an emancipated slave. Marius Robinson wrote about her speech that day in an issue of the Anti-Slavery Bugle. She spoke with humor and even some sarcasm: “The poor men seem to be all in confusion, and don’t know what to do. Why children, if you have women’s rights, give it to her and you will feel better. You will have your own rights, and they won’t be so much trouble. I can’t read, but I can hear. I have heard the bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin. Well, if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again.”

EVOLUTION

Said Mr. Jones in Nineteen-Ten:
“Women, subject yourselves to men.”
Nineteen-Eleven heard him quote:
“They rule the world without the vote.”
By Nineteen-Twelve, he would submit
“When all the women wanted it.”
By Nineteen-Thirteen, looking glum,
He said that it was bound to come.
This year I heard him say with pride:
“No reasons on the other side!’
By Nineteen-Fifteen, he’ll insist
He’s always been a suffragist.
And what is really stranger, too,
He’ll think that what he says is true.

~ Alice Duer Miller (1874-1942), American poet

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